It Lives In The Woods
by FelineNinjaGrace
Summary: Jareth is crawling in the shadows. Watching. Waiting. But for what? 10 years after a harrowing adventure scarred them for life; Sarah and her band of misfit friends find themselves in a series of scary, supernatural events. Will Sarah be able to protect her friends from the Goblin King's clutches? Or, better yet, protect herself? Dark Jareth/Non-canon. REVISED INTO 3RD PERSON.
1. Chapter 1: Wake Up Call

**IT LIVES IN THE WOODS**

**.**

_HEADS UP: This story was originally written in 1st person narrative. It was my first time writing in this style and it's really difficult to do. Stories like The Hunger Games, Twilight, Divergent, Percy Jackson, are all in 1st person narrative, but they knew how to do it right, lol. **So I changed it to 3rd person to suit people's tastes.**_

_Is it better? Leave a comment if you want me to continue or I can switch it back to first person._

_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the "Choices" games by Pixelberry or "The Labyrinth" by Jim Henson. _

_._

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_*_**.**_*_

**Chapter 1 – Wake Up Call**

.*.

"Bzzzz!"

Sarah was slowly brought to awareness, drifting between that space of conscious and unconscious. _What has brought me awake?_ She thought, laying there. Listening. The option was still available of sinking back into the warm embrace of colorful dreams or waking up to the reality of her room. She hesitated.

"Bzzzz!"

The vibrating buzz decided for her and her green eyes opened into slits. A pale light illuminated her dark room, casting a glow on her belongings and posters. It was coming from her bedside table. She turned her head with bleary eyes to stare at the notification screen from her cellphone.

Moaning in annoyance, she rolled to her side, "Uuggh, who's texting me at—", she grasped the cellphone in her hand and looked at the time on the screen, blinking away the pain, "- 3 in the morning?" Another groan. _Whoever it is, they better have a good excuse or else…._

The screen opened and the sudden, harsh light burned her retinas. But she woke up a little more fully, however, as she read the words from the text. Her eyebrows scrunched up in confusion.

* * *

**Dan 3:06am**

**Hey are you there? It's Dan**

**I messed up. I'm so sorry….**

* * *

_Dan Pierce?!_ She forced herself to concentrate and sent back a text, trying to punch in the correct buttons so it didn't come out a sleepy mess.

* * *

**Sarah 3:07am**

**Dan? It's…been a while. Are you ok? What happened?**

* * *

Sarah rubbed her eyes worriedly in an effort to focus while she waited. _Why is he texting me? Why now?_ His next words felt like a bucket of ice water being dumped over her head. Staring at the screen, she texted back angrily.

* * *

**Dan 3:08am**

**I went back into the woods.**

**I had to be sure. I had to prove to myself that it was all in my head….**

**But it isn't, Sarah, it's all real. HE'S real.**

**.**

**Sarah 3:09am**

**Dan…are you drunk or something?**

**.**

**Dan 3:09am**

**I heard him whispering…just like when we were kids.**

**.**

**Sarah 3:09am**

**No! Stop it Dan! We made all that stuff up.**

**The Goblin King was just a dumb kid's game that got out of control.**

**He doesn't exist. He never did.**

**.**

**Dan 3:10am**

**He does.**

**He's here with me now.**

**.**

**Sarah 3:10am**

**Wait...where are you?!**

**.**

**Dan 3:11am**

**I can hear him in the trees….**

**I can hear him whispering**

**.**

* * *

A harsh TAP! TAP! TAP! on the window's glass sent Sarah jumping a foot into the air as her heart gave a painful squeeze of adrenaline. She couldn't help the gasp-scream that escaped her throat, "G-aAhhh!"

A dark shape loomed outside the window. Sarah fumbled for the lights, her heart hammering inside her chest. She didn't know what to think except for whether to 'flee' or 'freeze'. 'Fight' didn't even register in her brain in this moment of panic. What made it worse was that her dad, Karen, and Toby were out of town. Out of the country, even. Sara was all alone...

The light finally flooded the bedroom, shining brightly and chasing all the odd shadows away. It streamed through the window to reveal….

"Dan?! What are you _doing _here?!" Sarah exclaimed, relieved.

"Sarah, can I come in?" He asked.

"Uhhhhh…" Relief changed to confusion. She stared at him, having a strange disconnect in her brain. _It's been so long…_ "Yeah, I guess so…hold on.", She moved to the window and pushed up until it slid open enough for Dan to climb inside. Once inside, she just stared at him some more, her brain moving sluggishly at 3AM.

Dan was currently the quarterback on the football team, and it suited him. He looked good, now that he was all grown. Sarah used to have a teensy innocent crush on him but it had never sprouted into anything. They had both slowly but surely gone separate ways._ Until now?_

"You've got some explaining to do, though." She put her hands on her baggy pajama-clad hips in a 'Sarah's-_trying_-to-take-control-of-the-situation' pose. The window let in a slightly cold breeze which went right through her pink tank top, making her skin prickle from the cold. "First off…How did you get up to my window? Because we are definitely on the second floor right now…"

"I climbed." Dan said.

"Uh…. okay, Spiderman." She blinked, eyes wide. "You sounded really freaked out in your texts..."

He looked like he always did. Gym shorts. Blue hoodie. Hair that curled at the ends from wearing sport caps too often. And yet, something was off...

"It's nothing. I'm fine." Dan said. "Come on, we need to go get the others."

"What others?" A_m I dreaming? This feels like a dream._

"Our friends! Jane, Emily, Taylor, Luke, MJ, and Sean. I've got something to show you. But we've got to bring everyone. The whole gang!" Dan said, and his face lit up with excitement.

_Oh, I get it! This must be one of those 'we're going on a quest' kind of dreams._ Then his words sunk in and her stomach plummeted. _Wait. The…the gang?_

"Dan…." Sarah bit her lip as memories began to bubble up. Memories that Sarah Williams did NOT want to remember. Let them stay in the deep abyss of the mind until they've moldered away to dust.

"I've barely spoken to anyone in…_the gang…_since we were kids! No one's kept in contact. Not since what happened to Jessica-"

Dan's face became angry, "But they have to come, Sarah! _EVERYONE _has to be there. That's the _rule_."

The hair on the back of Sarah's neck stood up. But before she could answer him; her phone buzzed again, vibrating against the fluffy carpet. She didn't realize she had dropped it when Dan had scared the crap out of her. Sighing, she walked over to it and picked it up.

"Dan, I want to help you. But you're honestly freaking me out right now." She rubbed a hand over her eyes and forehead. _Is it too much to get some sleep around here?_ "Look, we've got our first day of school in, like, 6 hours. We'll talk then, okay? Sound good?"

The phone buzzed in her hand again, sending another notification. She glanced down at the sender, only to be greeted by a cold jolt in her stomach…

* * *

**Dan 3:20am**

**Are you still there? I think I'm lost**

**Dan 3:21am**

**Sarah? My battery's almost dead, pls help me!**

* * *

"Wait…." The world started to tilt scarily. Like, Twilight Zone scary. A shaky breath rushed past her lips.

"We have to go back to the woods, Sarah." he spoke.

The lights in the bedroom began to flicker rapidly as a chill wind swept through the open window, causing Sarah to give a shiver. The lights stopped flickering and just completely died. The whole room was suddenly bathed in a suffocating darkness so thick you could cut it with a knife. Only the cellphone offered any semblance of light.

Hands trembling, she looked up from her phone to the person standing before her. "…D-Dan?"

A smile spread across his shadowed face...stretching wider than it should. "Sarah?" he mocked.

She started to back away…but Dan's hand shot out and clamped around her wrist. She panicked, yanking her arm, but he gripped painfully tighter with an almost inhuman strength.

"Hey!" She cried.

Without thinking too much about consequences, she slammed her fist against Dan's jaw and pain shot up her arm. He barely even flinched... but _she_ definitely felt it. "Ow! What the—"

Dan suddenly threw her to the floor with a painful THUD, pinning her back against the carpet.

"Don't make my job harder than it needs to be Sarah! You can't escape this. You can't escape _Him_."

_Him?_ Sara stopped struggling for a moment and stared up at Dan, dazed from being thrown to the floor like a sack of potatoes, her eyes grew wide as what he's saying _finally_ registered. All she could do was whisper in horror, "No…Dan! Don't…"

"We **_all _**have to go back. Don't you remember?"

"Get **off** me!" She bucked and struggled underneath him. He leaned in closer, smiling…

"_Everyone plays together, Sarah_."

In what seems to be her last defense, she seized the iron locket dangling around her neck. Lifting it up, she slammed it against his face.

"ARRRRGGGGHH!" He shrieked in pain. The sizzling sound of burning skin confirmed what she already knew by now: This wasn't Dan. Dan was out there somewhere, probably in as much trouble as she was.

"You're going to pay for that you little b****!"

The creature's glamour melted away to show the inhumanly beautiful face of a man with long brown hair. Sarah breathed an internal sigh of relief that he wasn't the blonde creature that she knew too well. A nasty burn, black and smoking, was on his cheek right where her iron locket chemically reacted.

In one quick movement, he grabbed the locket and tugged, snapping it off Sarah's neck. She reflexively grabbed hold of his clenched hand so he couldn't let go of the toxic metal. He screamed again with rage and pain as his hand began to smoke, but he used his other hand to grip her throat. He clenched.

"Ahhgg-" Her scream ended in a choke.

"**Stop. Fighting. Me**!" He hissed, beyond angry.

Sarah's focus turned from burning him to protecting her voice box that was being crushed. Both her hands came up to pry his hand away. Unfortunately, quick as a whip, he threw the iron necklace far away from either of them and brought his other hand to join the first one. The creature's hands tightened around her throat….and her vision began to blur. Shadows seemed to wreath and bleed in the dark room. She could almost swear she heard the hushed, worried whispers of Goblins.

It's now or never.

"You have n-no... power…over m-me" She choked out.

She had no more breath. She simply sank, paralyzed by terror, into a cold black nothingness while an inhuman sound of rage was the last thing she heard.

* * *

_._

_I didn't know what to put for the "theme" of this story. It's originally HORROR, but I'm really **not** into scary movies, as I'm more of a comedy writer. Basically, this story is a little bit of Horror, a LOT of Suspense, a spot of dark Romance, and a whole butt load of Friendship. So I put in the two most common themes: Suspense and Friendship. Cause, you know, Friendship always helps you defeat the villain. My Little Pony taught me that. Lol. _

_I got this idea after playing a horror game in "Choices" by Pixelberry and thought, what if I took the story and made the monster "Jareth" and the main character "Sarah"?! And thus, "It Lives In The Woods" was born!_

_I really want this to feel like a book, rather than a fanfiction if that makes sense. This is a SLOW BURN between Jareth and Sarah, which is the best in my opinion. You gotta let the tension build in order to release the spring_


	2. Chapter 2: Old Friends

**Disclaimer:** Nothing from "The Labyrinth" or "Choices" belong to me. I am simply doing a Fan-fiction. No money will be earned with this.

Enjoy! :)

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**Chapter 2- Old Friends**

.*.

"AHHHHHH!" Sarah jerked awake, adrenaline rushing through her veins as she thrashed against her attacker until….she realized that she was alone in her room. Sunlight streamed gently onto the bed's comforter and the carpet, illuminating the dust motes with a golden glow. Everything looked peaceful and serene. A new day. A new life.

_The heck? What a messed-up dream._ She rubbed her forehead, confused. A cool breeze swept along Sarah's tanktop, dancing along her bare shoulders and a shiver worked it's way through her body. Looking around the room at all her belongings, her eyes suddenly focused on the open window; the source of her discomfort. _What if..._

Pain made her flinch as she gently probed her neck, feeling the fresh bruises there. _Oh no._ She looked at her knuckles. They had some dark painful splotches too.

"What the-?!" _This can't be happening. No, no, no..._ She began to tremble.

Her phone was on the night stand, as usual. She picked it up…only to discover that it was somehow dead.

"Crap...", she gnawed on her bottom lip and sat there for a while. Confused. Wondering. 30 minutes passed by, and she was no closer to the answer of what happened than she was before. And nothing had jumped out from under the bed to grab her yet, so...

Sighing, she eventually got up and tossed her dead phone into her school bag. She turned to the mess known as her closet and started to get ready for school. Today was the first day of Sarah's 'Senior-hood'. _I need to look good for my adoring fans. Ha. Not._

15 minutes plus a shower later, and she was looking decent.

Grabbing her schoolbag and binder, she hurried down the stairs taking two at a time. Her thudding feet made a faint echo throughout the house. Usually, it was awesome having the place to herself with all the freedom that it offered. But after last night? The house felt empty. And not in a good way. She snagged a banana and headed outside, quickly.

Buttery sunshine filtered through the trees and onto her face as she stepped out onto the white wrap-around porch. Morning birds chirped and whirred with joyful abandon in the treetops. She let out a sigh of relief, before casting a nervous glance towards the woods bordering the edge of their yard.

_Jareth..._It'd been a long time since she'd allowed herself to think his name. His REAL name. _Dan couldn't have seen him, could he? That was all just make-believe, right?_

As she stood on her porch, pondering again the events of last night, a friendly and familiar voice called out from the yard next door…

"Morning neighbor!" A man with bushy red hair, and a matching red bushy beard, smiled and waved.

"Oh, hey Mark. What's up?" She nodded to him, forcing herself to smile.

"Just coming back from a walk. Hey, Merlin, look who it is!" He glanced over behind him. A blur of grey and white fur crashed out of the bushes that separated the two yards, looking around excitedly. He bound over to Sarah, trying to wave his non-existent tail and just ended up shaking his entire butt.

She felt her face light up in a bright effortless smile and just like that…her nervousness and fear evaporated like the morning dew, "Hey boy!"

Merlin, in Sarah's estimation, was basically the best dog ever. Mark got him as a puppy about 5 years ago and he had wandered over into Sarah's yard during his first week in his new home. She thought he had been a stray and so she had begged Karen and her dad to keep him. It was only 3 days later, after they both got hopelessly attached to each other, that they found out that he was the neighbor's. Mark had been looking all over for him. Karen was relieved that they had to give the dog back, disliking dogs for their general lack of hygiene. But the "bond had been forged" and Mark even had to start calling him by 'Merlin' because he wouldn't respond to any other name. He had been a good sport about it though, even joking with Sarah about having "co-ownership" of the dog.

Merlin yipped and tried to sit on her feet, leaning his back against her legs as he grinned upwards, playfully.

He flopped down on his back when she began to scratch his belly and wiggled happily.

"Yeah, it was getting mangy and in his eyes. Had to get him shaved." Mark remarked, sticking his hands into his jeans and leaning casually against a piece of their fence. "Your parents around? I didn't see them out and about this morning."

"Yeah, they're overseas dealing with my great-aunt's estate or whatever. They'll be back in a couple weeks." Sarah shrugged.

When invited to go to Ireland, she had turned it down. Aunt O'Connelly weirded her out. She always was talking about their family history and the meaning of being a Connelly. It was fascinating….until you've heard it a million times. Plus, Sarah wasn't going to pass up the chance to stay home alone for a couple of weeks. It was a teenager's dream come true. After last night though….she was having second thoughts.

Mark looked taken aback, "Hell, that's a long time for a kid to be by themselves, 'specially in a big house like that."

She felt a twinge of annoyance, even though she had just gotten the scare of her life last night. _I'm not a 'kid'._

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself. I can tie my shoes, and I even know how to make Mac 'n Cheese without burning the house down!" She grinned impishly at Mark, still rubbing Merlin's belly. He looked like he was going to pass out on her porch from happiness.

Mark let out a large laugh and held up his hands chuckling, "Alright, Alright! You kids grow up so fast these days, sheesh!"

Suddenly, cocking his head, he took a few steps towards the house and crouched down beside a small pile of loose dirt. "Huh, wonder what this is…" He picked something out of the pile and held it up…a glossy black stone.

He looked to Sarah, "This yours?"

Sarah stopped euthanizing Merlin with her hands and stepped off the wooden porch. He put the stone in her hand and she examined it. The stone was smooth, like black glass. A strange white rune was etched into it and it glittered menacingly, like onyx.

"Weird…I wonder where this came from?" She murmured. The stone was surprisingly light in her hand and she moved her thumb along it's smooth texture, tracing the indented white lines of the rune. Her aunt would probably do a double back-flip to see something like this. Looked like something she'd have around that old smelly mansion of hers.

"Beats me. Looks like a paperweight or sumthin." Mark nodded and dusted off his hands. "Welp! I'll let you get to school. Just let me know if you need anything, alright? My door's always open."

Sarah looked up at Mark and smiled gratefully, "Will do. Thanks Mark!"

He had no idea how much she appreciated having someone nearby in case of emergency. But how could she tell Mark what happened? The ripe old age of 18 was a difficult age. You're caught in the space between being technically an adult, according to law, while at the same time depending on the adults around you for a lot of things. It was very important to her to have the acknowledgement that she was capable of independence. So instead of taking him up on the offer, she remained calm so he wouldn't think she was some _little kid_ without her parents.

Mark, oblivious to the thoughts going through her head, whistled for Merlin. Merlin jumped up to follow him. Once they were out of sight, Sarah looked down at the stone in her hand again.

_If what happened last night was real, this might be a clue. Better keep this safe somewhere._

And with that thought, she pocketed the rock and headed over to her dad's shed...which was unfortunately right near the edge of the forest. She kept her eyes on the trees as she tried to open the shed door. It took a couple of tries. The door's rusted hinges screeched loudly with every shove.

_Jeez when was the last time someone was in here?_ She flipped the light switch on so she could see what she was dealing with. Cobwebs tickled her face as she made her way over to the empty worktable and set the stone carefully on top of it's dusty surface. She stood there, looking at the stone thoughtfully, as well as the rest of the space. _What IS this stone? It can't have been placed there by accident. Could it be...His?_

She turned and left the shed quickly, needing to get to school on time. She stepped back into the yard, screeching the door behind her.

A few minutes later, and Sarah found herself trudging along the black asphalt road running along the edge of the woods. The sunbeams that filtered through the trees changed the plants and vegetation into varying shades of emerald green. Sarah felt her fears abate for a moment. She'd always loved the woods, even though she kept her distance. The walk to school and back was the only 'woodsy' activity she really did anymore. Gorgeous tall trees towered on both sides of the road, creating the illusion of a giant twisting corridor, like a Labyrinth. The song from the musical 'Into the Woods' came to her mind and she hummed softly, staring at her moving feet….

_The way is clear, the light is good, I have no fear nor no one should. The woods are just trees, the trees are just wood…._

The roar of a car engine interrupted her musical thoughts, approaching from behind.

Stepping to the side, Sarah glanced back and saw a black vintage Camaro. She looked at the driver and pretty blue eyes locked with her green ones. _Huh, that guy looks familiar…_ She instantly became wary. _What if it's another one of them in disguise? He even LOOKS like Jareth a little! Blonde hair to his shoulders, blue eyes, leather jacket… _

_He's definitely not bad looking_, Sarah admitted to herself.

The car slowed to a stop and she watched suspiciously as the guy leaned out through the open window and asked, "Hey, do I know you from somewhere?"

Sarah halted, surprised, "Uh, I was wondering the same thing actually… Do you go to Westchester High?"

He smirked, "Not anymore. Left that hellhole behind a couple of years ago."

"Oh! Well…lucky you!" She tried to play it cool, but could't help but shift her feet. _He used to be a highschool student? I know I've seen him before..._

"Hang in there. You'll be out before you know it." He looked her up and down, before meeting her eyes and grinning, "Let me guess…Senior?"

"Yeah, that's right." She allowed herself to smile. _Definitely not bad looking._ She played with her hair without realizing it, and then suddenly realized it, and immediately stopped herself.

"Cool. Well, I better get to work. Catch you later!" He smiled appreciatively at Sarah. He stepped on the gas and the car started to pull away.

"Oh! I never got your…."

But he was already too far away to hear, disappearing around the bend in the road.

"…name." Sarah narrowed her eyes. If that _was_ one of Jareth's minions, he had been a hell of an actor. _He didn't even ask me if I wanted a ride. I would have turned it down, of course, but still..._

Shrugging, Sarah continued her way down the winding forest road.

A thin crowd of students trickled across the yard at the school, as Sarah arrived, waving and calling out to friends as they converged on the front doors. The mysterious dude in the Camaro was right, Sarah would be out of high school before she knew it. Sarah felt herself grin, drinking in the energy of the new school year. Finally, she was a Senior, and it felt good to be on top. _No more awkward Freshman, Sophomore, or Junior years... Soon I'll be packing all my belongings into my "graduation present", kissing Toby good-bye, and watching this town disappear in the rear-view mirror_.

Squeezing through the loud, crowded hall, she found a familiar girl standing at the locker next to hers.

"Oh! Hey MJ!" Sarah said, surprised.

The Gothic girl glanced over at Sarah, bored, then looked back to her locker, "Sup."

Her cocoa-colored skin was sporting a dark black lipstick and thick eye-liner, which were meticulously done. Her dreadlocks were dyed maroon with a couple of dyed blonde ones, some decked out with silver dread-rings. She wore a black shirt with a red skull on it, and black fishnets for sleeves. On her ears, she had a large silver moon with a little silver skull dangling from one side, while her other ear sported a simple silver stud. Sarah wondered briefly if her neck was unevenly stronger on one side because of the constant weight on only one of her earlobes….

"You're staring, Williams." MJ didn't even look in Sarah's direction.

Sarah was startled out of analyzing MJ's outfit choices, and turned to her locker, "Sorry." she mumbled, embarrassed. As a_ former_ drama club enthusiast, Sarah thought it was cool that MJ didn't care what people thought of the way she dressed. Thinking back to when she played on stage, Sarah had used to wish she could wear her stage props to class for fun.

Sarah plugged her cellphone into the portable battery she had brought from home with her. The light blinked and it started charging. She turned to MJ and tried to strike up conversation, "That hasn't always been your locker, has it? I've never seen you using it before."

"Got reassigned." MJ kicked the locker shut and swung her bag over her shoulder before turning to completely face Sarah. Her black lips turned down into a frown, "Why? Are there going to be any problems?" She glared.

"Oh! No, of course not. It'll be nice having you here." Sarah tried to smile reassuringly at her and said, "I really like your fishnets."

MJ did't say anything, just stared at her for a moment. Then her heavy eye-lined gaze slid behind Sarah and she calmly said, "Oh look, it's Emily."

Following MJ's gaze, Sarah turned and saw a plump girl, nervously clutching a textbook to her chest.

"Um...hi, guys." Emily said.

Her clothes were what you'd call the exact opposite of MJ's. She had a bow-tie barrette in her curly light-brown hair, given to her by her mom in the 3rd grade before she'd passed away. She completed the look, wearing a polka dot shirt with a peter-pan collar, and then a green cotton blazer over that. Some people wanted to stay 3rd grader-cute forever, Sarah guessed.

"Hi Emily." Sarah nodded at her, smiling. "It's been a while. How was your summer?"

"Oh, it was good. I just got done doing a Coding Camp for video games up in Connecticut!" her hesitant face brightened up a bit.

Emily was deceiving. You would never guess by looking at her that she liked to _create _video games since she looked more like a preschool teacher. She was a technology genius, and a wiz at the computer. Video games at her house were an awesome way to spend a Friday night.

"That's awesome! Let me know if you ever need a play-tester!" Sarah grinned, closing her locker.

Emily glanced around furtively, lowering her voice. "There's, um, there's actually something I wanted to talk to you about…" Her chubby cheeks were red.

"Sure, what's up?" Sarah watched her, curiously. She seems more nervous than usual.

"I got some really weird texts last night. Did you…?" Emily trailed off, looking over Sarah's shoulder.

Again, Sarah was forced to turn, as she followed Emily's gaze to see a beautiful girl strutting down the hallway in their direction, chatting loudly with two friends.

_Ugh. Britney._

MJ seemed to be thinking the same thing and she muttered, "Oh boy. Just when you think high school might not be the necrotic-sucking chest-wound that you remember…"

Britney was wearing her short cheer-leading outfit, and was enjoying the obvious attention the student body was giving her for it. Her lackeys, Cody and Jocelyn, hung on to every word as the three walked together.

"Oh my god, look, I've been ghosting this guy for, like two solid weeks, and he just asked me out for coffee…._again!_" She scoffed loudly, aware of everyone listening to her.

Cody laughed next to Britney, "_Yikes_. Desperate is not a good look."

"Maybe he's just not scared of ghosts? You could try clowns instead. Clowns are gross" Jocelyn said, flipping her brown hair over her shoulder. _Jocelyn should have been a blonde…_

Britney looked over at Jocelyn, annoyed at her friend's idiocy as well it would seem, "That's not…Joss, do you even know what _ghosting_ mean—"

"H-hi, Britney!" Emily peeped up hopefully, not seeming to be able to help herself. MJ and Sarah shared a quick glance_. Here we go again…_

The group stopped in their tracks, and Britney turned to give Emily an appraising look. "Wow, Emily, _great_ sweater. I didn't know 'Baby Barn' had a quadruple-XL section." She smirked.

Emily looked like she wanted to shrink and die, "I…I just wanted to say hello…"

Britney's smirk turned into a scowl, "And I want a red Ferrari for my birthday, but I'll settle for not having to listen to your whiny voice anymore."

Sarah felt herself bristle. _Who does she think she is?_ "Right, because basing your fashion sense on whatever the wannabe models on Pictogram are wearing is _waaaay_ cooler." Sarah wasn't impressed by Emily's clothing choices herself, to be honest, but Emily's value wasn't based on what she wore.

Britney's attention turned to her and her scowl darkened, "News flash, Sarah: no one asked _you_."

Sarah raised her eyebrows and, like Emily, couldn't seem to help herself, "Didn't hear anyone asking for _your _opinion either. How about you take your unsolicited fashion advice to someone who cares?"

"You _so_ do not want to piss me off Williams." She glowered.

Sarah rolls her eyes, "Britney, this gets old. Will you grow up?"

Emily looked down at the floor, hiding a small smile.

Jocelyn tried to come in for the rescue, "Oh yeah? Well—"

MJ cut her off, "Shhhh…witty comebacks aren't your strong suit, 'track-and-field Barbie'."

"_Cross Country_." Jocelyn huffed.

MJ rolled her eyes, "I know. I used the wrong one on purpose to piss you off. Try to keep up."

Sarah looked at MJ with admiration.

Cody decided to speak up then, "How about you go haunt some other hallway, freak?", he said, referring to MJ.

He took a step forward in order to put the three girls in his huge shadow. Sarah felt a tremor of loathing. Cody was a jerk. 100% a bully. And enormous. Once, he had asked her out in 6th grade, but she had just seen him picking on a mentally retarded kid the day before. Sarah told him that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. And from then on he began including her in his "bully routine" as well.

MJ gave Cody a long, ponderous look…then reached up to pluck a stray blonde hair from his shoulder, "You know, I keep meaning to try out this new curse I found on the internet. If you feel a burning sensation in your eyeballs, that's normal."

Cody mouth dropped open, "The hell…"

Not waiting for a response, MJ waggled her fingers and stalked her way down the hallway, "Later guys."

"Later…" Sarah called after her, disappointed that she was leaving them alone with these jerks.

"Bye MJ." Emily also stared wide eyed after the direction MJ took.

"Ewww, Cody! What's going to happen to your eyeballs?" Jocelyn freaked out, looking at Cody's face as if it was going to melt any minute. Cody scowled.

Britney rolled her eyes, "Chill, Jocelyn. That weirdo just reads too many vampire novels. With any luck she'll flunk out and go live in a dirty old shack like 'Pritch the Witch'."

"Yeah! She is just like 'Pritch the Witch'! We should call her, uh….'MJ the Witch'! Haahahahahahahahaha!" Jocelyn clutched her stomach, laughing at her strange joke.

Sarah turned to Emily with her eyebrows raised, not sure if she could handle such stimulating company.

Both Cody and Britney were staring at Jocelyn too, perhaps thinking the same thing. "…Wow. Good one, Joss." Cody deadpanned.

Sarah shook her head, stuffing a notebook in her book bag, "Well, as lovely as all this has been, we should probably go—"

"Oh. My. God. Is that a _hickey?_" Jocelyn laughed, shocked.

She reached up, poking the fresh bruises on the side of Sarah's neck. Sarah couldn't help but flinch in pain.

"Ow! Get off!" She yelled indignantly. _I'm about to lose my cool here._

"Yeah right," Cody laughed, but his eyes narrowed, "Like anyone would want to chew on _this_ social reject…"

"For your _information,_ I got it from your mom!" Sarah grit out at him, furious.

"What!? I thought Cody's mom was in Aspen this week?" Jocelyn asked, surprised. She wasn't being sarcastic. _Oh for the love of…._

Cody's face turned a purple shade, "You should watch what you say, Sarah. That mouth of yours tends to get you in trouble."

Just as Sarah was about to push him over the edge with another 'your mom' comeback, Britney stepped in, "Whatever. _Fascinating_ as this convo is, I need to go get ready for the pep rally."

She grimaced at Sarah, before jerking her head to the side and strutting away. The others followed. But not without Cody first giving Sarah a shoulder-check as he walked by, knocking her hard against a locker.

"Ow!"

"Hey!" Emily cried, shocked.

"We'll catch up later, Sarah." Cody called cheerfully back over his shoulder.

Wincing, she rubbed her shoulder where it slammed against the locker, glaring after the bullies. _Gosh dang, don't I have enough bruises for one day?_

"This school year's already off to a **great** start, huh?" Sarah glanced over at Emily with a smirk, who's still standing there with her mouth open.

"Should we report them to the office, or…?"

Sarah, chuckled bitterly, as she hefted her school bag onto her shoulder and responded, "Sure, millionth time's a charm, right? Maybe _this _time they'll actually get in trouble."

Emily smiled ruefully as the two of them joined the crowd of students shuffling towards the gym…

Music blared over the gym speakers, and the newly polished wood floors gleamed. A rush of panic hit Sarah as she was jostled every-which-way by the crowd, her mind flashing back to the night before.

"Sarah? Are you ok?" Emily snapped her out of her thoughts, staring at her. Sarah wondered what her face looked like.

"Y-yeah, just, uh, kinda crowded in here. You see anywhere to sit?" Sarah glanced around, looking from the shiny wooden basketball floors to the shiny wooden bleachers.

"Not really…" Emily glanced around too, "Looks like there's a couple of seats up there next to…Oh, never mind. That's MJ's spot."

Sarah looked up to where Emily's indicating.

In the top row of the bleachers, MJ sat scribbling in a worn sketchbook. As Sarah watched, a couple of freshmen moved to sit beside her…

"HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS…" She bared her teeth at them, hissing like a cobra.

The freshmen tripped over themselves, scrambling to get away from her. It made Sarah want to laugh a little. She knew MJ wasn't a witch like everyone said she was. Mary-Jane Adams just knew what she liked and she didn't care if other people liked it or not. When they all hung out together as kids, she was more or less the same way. Then, as she grew older, she shut herself away from everyone.

MJ glared after freshmen for a while…then noticed Sarah watching her. Her face became a radiant smile, and she nodded to the empty seat beside her. Sarah blinked at her sudden transformation.

"Is…is she inviting me to sit beside her?" She asked Emily, dumbfounded.

"I…I think she is!" Emily was just as dumbfounded as Sarah was.

A sudden thought came to her. _Maybe I could talk to MJ about the dream I had last night? She knows about all kinds of supernatural stuff…plus it'd be nice to tell someone who'd actually believe me. We haven't caught up in ages._ She looked at Emily apologetically, but Emily waved her away.

"You go ahead…MJ kinda…um…scares me a little." Emily ducked her head shyly.

"You sure?" Sarah didn't want to leave her alone.

"Yeah, I think I see a spot next to Mr. Cooper." She nodded over to where the teachers sat, "Oh! And thanks for your help earlier Sarah." She looked up at her, grateful.

Sarah nodded, "Anytime. See you later.", and she began her long trek up the mountain of bleachers.

She climbed to the top of the bleachers and sidled her way over to MJ's corner. She pointed to the empty spot right next to MJ, "Hey, anyone sitting here?"

"Just my ghost friend, but he's incorporeal so it doesn't really count." She deadpanned, watching her reaction.

Sarah laughed, until she realized that MJ wasn't laughing too.

"What." MJ asked, deadpanning.

"Uhh, nothing." Sarah raised her eyebrows innocently, not sure how to react, "Sorry, I just can't tell if you're messing with me."

"It's all part of my mystique."

She looked at the bench and then back at MJ's expressionless face_. Sit right next to MJ? Or leave space for the ghost?_ She chose to sit next to MJ.

"Bold move, sitting in someone's lap before you're even introduced." MJ smiled at her then, a twinkle in her eye.

She passed the test it would seem.

"Maybe the ghost and I can grab a coffee later." Sarah joked back with a grin.

The two of them sat together for a few minutes in silence. MJ scribbled in her sketchbook.

MJ broke the silence first, "So are you going to tell me what you're so freaked out about? Or are you having fun dismembering that poor bench?"

"Huh?" Sarah looked down, realizing she'd been picking splinters off the edge of the bleachers. She sighed, "I _do _want to talk about it. It's just…it's kind of a weird story." Her eyebrows pinched together as she contemplated how to bring up what happened.

"Sarah. Look at me. Weird is my middle name."

"Really?" She asked her hopefully, wanting to make sure that she could actually get this off her chest without judgement.

"Well, no, it's actually Dolores. But if you tell anyone that, I will go to your house and hide eyeballs in your food." Her lips turned up at the side, but besides that she looked dead serious.

Sarah smiled dubiously, "Where would you even get—"

"Next time you go to pour a bowl of cereal? Bloop! Eyeballs."

Sarah laughed, she couldn't help it. Her laughter made a few people turn to look at her. MJ was so weird. She made Sarah feel…normal.

"Duly noted." Sarah calmed down, then sighed and furrowed her eyebrows, "So…what would you say if I told you that last night I saw some kind of…_demon_?"

"Depends. What'd this demon look like?"

"Well… he looked like Dan, at least at first."

"Woah! Plot twist! Keep going." She excitedly gave Sarah her full attention.

"Once I figured out it wasn't actually Dan, it attacked me." Sarah swallowed, remembering him lunging for her before slamming her onto the floor to keep her from running. Now that she thought about it, her back ached a little too. "Then I put my necklace on him, and it melted his face to reveal…a handsome man with strange markings around his eyes."

"Double plot twist! Markings around the eyes?" MJ tapped her pencil against her black lips, looking thoughtful, "That's strange. Handsome? Could it have been a 'fae'?"

"Uh, I don't know? Iron burned him, so I guess so?" Sarah pondered. Her aunt always talked about fae, but that was just Ireland for you. "The weirdest thing is that I woke up the next morning and he, or it, was gone. Why would he just attack me and then leave?" Sarah finished, feeling so confused.

MJ smirked and leaned towards her conspiratorially, "Full disclosure? My knowledge of the fae is like sixty percent Wikipedia and forty percent this dude named 'MagicStan75' who I met on a warlock forum." MJ's smirk widened at Sarah's dubious expression. "Maybe whatever power allowed him access to you was only temporary? Maybe it wasn't his mission to harm you? Or maybe it was all a dream?"

Sarah shuddered, reaching up to feel her neck, "Definitely not a dream. Dreams don't leave bruises."

"They can actually. There are beings who can enter or even effect your dreams. One of those could probably use your dreams to hurt you." She stated, thinking aloud, "You could also be under a curse or something. I've read a lot about cursed dreams."

_Umm, remind me again why she studies about cursed dreams? _Sarah thought about what she said for a moment, and then, "I let him in through my window, so maybe that gave him power… maybe that was my mistake?" She pondered aloud. MJ raised her eyebrows at her as if that was a no-brainer.

"What? It was 3 in the morning and nothing makes sense to me that early!" She protested defensively.

"Maybe you just ate some bad meatloaf." MJ smirked.

Sarah snorted and rolled her eyes, smiling. "Mac and Cheese, actually."

MJ chuckled, and Sarah looked over at her, "Thanks MJ. I really needed to talk to someone but I didn't think anyone would believe me."

"Hmmm. Jury's still out on me _believing_ you. You could be making this all up to screw with me." She gave Sarah an appraising look.

"Do…people do that to you?!" Sarah asked, surprised.

MJ flashed her teeth at her, relaxing, "They _try_, but my 'Kung Fu' is strong."

"Well," Sarah smiled, "then thanks for listening to me without immediately dismissing me." Sarah felts as if a huge weight had been lifted from off her shoulders and she sighed, feeling calmer, "It helps a lot."

"Cool. Glad to help." Then MJ sat up straighter, "Okay. I think I'm done now."

"Uh, done with…?"

"Being nice. See, I've got this whole 'bitter misanthrope' thing going on. If people see us being all friendly, they might think it's ok to talk to me."

Sarah chuckled, "Can't have that."

"No. Indeed we can't. I would literally die." MJ smirked.

Sarah picked up her stuff and started edging towards the stairs.

"Hey, Sarah." She called.

"Yeah?"

"You're not as big a tool as most people." She nodded at her.

"Coming from you, MJ, that means a lot." Sarah grinned.

"Yes. Yes, it does." MJ turned back towards her sketchbook, ending the conversation.

Sarah made her way down the bleachers as they continued to fill, looking for any place she could squeeze in…

Finally, she spot one empty seat…next to a familiar figure with long greasy hair and a dirty beanie on his head, slouching in the second row…

Taylor Cunningham.

_Aww, crap. Anywhere but there!_ She quickly turned around, desperately scanning the crowd for another open seat, _any_ seat but that one. But there weren't any. She had talked with MJ for too long. Sarah considered trying to sneak back out the gym doors, until someone shouted at her from a few rows up.

"Hey Sarah! Sit your stupid a** down, unless you wanna watch from the garbage can!" Cody glared at her threateningly.

"I…" She looked around, desperate. _Maybe the garbage can would be better?_

"Um, Hellooo!? You're blocking our view. And there's a spot _right there!_" Jocelyn snarled, pointing to the spot next to Taylor.

Wincing, Sarah turned back around to see Taylor looking right at her.

"Um, hey, Taylor. Do you mind if...?" She was worried how he'd respond.

"Knock yourself out." He said, uncaring. Sarah wondered for a brief second if he meant literally, until he scooted over. She squeezed in beside him.

She tried to strike up conversation to avoid feeling awkward, "So…uh, what's been up with you? We haven't really talked since…" She trailed off, not sure how to finish that sentence.

"Yeah…I know." He ended the discussion there.

They sat, neither of them saying another word. Down on the floor of the gym, a tall handsome guy with glasses walked up to the podium and grabbed the microphone.

"How you doin' Westchester Hiiiigh!?" He bellowed, grinning. He raised a hand in the air.

The students roared in response! The bleachers rumbled and shook as the crowd pounded their feet on the wood.

"Woah…" Sarah said aloud, surprised, "When did Luke get so…" _Hot?_ "…Popular?"

"Shortly _after_ hitting six feet and discovering hair gel, which was shortly _before_ getting elected as student body president.", Taylor sighed. He seemed bored with the whole thing. He leaned back and kicked his legs out as much as he could. He finished his bored look by folding his arms.

Luke waved to the cheering crowd, flashing a movie star smile. "Welcome back, everyone! For anyone who doesn't know me already, I'm Luke Thomas, your student body president. I know everyone is a little salty that summer is over—"

Sarah scoffed a little on the inside_. When did the expression 'salty' become a thing?_

"—but trust me…this is going to be one school year that you'll never forget. And on that note, let's kick this pep rally off, Westchester Wolf-style!"

At Luke's signal, several cheerleaders jumped up from the bleachers, bouncing and waving their pom-poms in the air.

One of the girls shone brighter than the rest. "You can do better than that!" She yelled, beaming at the crowd, "Let's hear it!" The crowd cheered louder.

"Looks like Stacy's doing pretty well too…" Sarah said to Taylor. They watched their old friend as she pulled off an effortless roundoff into a backflip, drawing thunderous applause from the rally. One by one the cheerleaders tumbled across the gym, showing different moves.

"Woah! That's incredible!" Sarah could't help but get involved and started cheering with the rest of the student body.

"Yay. Go team." Taylor said, unimpressed.

Beaming, Stacey looked back at the rest of the cheer squad, her smile suddenly fading as she locked eyes with Britney. Britney glowered at her, fuming.

With a sad look on her face, Stacey turned… and suddenly tripped over her own feet, sprawling!

"Ahhh!" She cried as she fell, smashing her face into the ground in a way that looked painful.

"Oooooh!" The crowd all groaned together.

"Stacey!" Sarah jumped to her feet, and descended the two rows, hurrying to help her up.

"Are you okay?" She asked her, confused, "What happened?"

"Nothing…" Stacey looked at Sarah sadly, "I'm just a klutz I guess."

Sarah stared at her, sensing something off, "You think you're a klutz? Stace…you just did a freaking **backflip**!**" **Sarah beamed at her, brushing off the imaginary dirt off her uniform.

Stacey looked at her with something akin to gratitude, "I—"

"Hahahahahaha! Did you see that?! She was all like, _'Ahhhhhhhh' WHAM!" _Jocelyn's obnoxious voice called out from the bleachers. Sarah grit her teeth.

"Please tell me the school news-nerds got that on video." Cody crowed like an immature teenager. _Oh wait… he is._

Blushing, Stacey rejoined the rest of the cheer squad. Sarah went back up to her spot and sat down as, at the other end of the gym, Britney stepped forward with a smug smile.

"Check _this _out…" She yelled to the crowd.

Britney took three running steps, then flew into a no-handed cartwheel. The crowd roared as she sticks the landing. Now it was Sarah's turn to be unimpressed. She leaned back and unconsciously copied Taylor's exact stance as she crossed her arms with a scowl.

"Ugh! Why do people like her so much? They've got to know how horrible she is." She asked no one in particular.

Taylor scoffed and rolled his eyes, "And? She's hot and she can do flips. We can't compete with that."

They both glowered together at the scene identically, looking almost like brother and sister, and Luke finally took the spotlight once more. He grinned from the podium and the cheerleaders returned to take their seats, "Well, now that the cheer squad is done totally blowing our minds…let's give it up for the Westchester Wolves basketball team!"

More applause sounded as a group of guys in basketball jerseys form up in front of the podium, howling like wolves.

"Huh." Taylor said to himself, and Sarah glanced over at him, "Sean made the team this year." She looked back and sure enough, there was Sean, howling with the rest of the team.

"Wow! Good for him! I can't wait to see him play!", she said, excited.

Sean was the only Asian in the School of Westchester, New York and he had tried for the past 3 years of highschool to get onto the basketball team. He never made the cut. It looked like his hard work was finally paying off though. It was his life-long dream to be a basketball player. Strange dream for an Asian, but a dream isn't limited to color or race. _He looks like he's gained a lot of muscle! _

"Make sure you don't pass to the Asian! He can't see anything!" Both Taylor and Sarah flinched as Cody's voice broke through the general applause.

Sean's head snapped in the direction of Cody's voice, his face twisting with anger. "Hey! Why don't you come down here and—"

He took one step towards the bleachers, but stopped himself as Luke called the team captain, Ben, up to the podium, "Thanks Luke. What's up Westchester High?" Ben smiles as everyone whoops and stomps in response.

"We've got our first game coming up in a couple of days, so you guys had better be here to watch us _crush it_! Not gonna lie, we've got a couple of rookies on our team this year, but I'm not gonna let that stop-"

The shouting and applause paused as the gym lights suddenly began to flicker.

"Huh?" Ben looked confused.

More flickering.

A tendril of cold fear slipped from Sarah's heart, down into her stomach. _Oh no. Flickering lights…?_

Luke's voice called out over the speakers, drowning out the nervous chatter of the students.

"Everyone stay seated! We don't want anyone to fall from the—kkkkkssssshhhhhhkkkkkkkkkkkkk!"

A burst of static cut him off, and the music stuttered, fading in and out as if it was a radio on the wrong station. The lights flickered eerily some more.

With a loud _BANG!_, the gym doors were blown open by a frigid gust of wind.

The lights flickered more rapidly, and Sarah nearly jumps out of her seat as Taylor suddenly grabbed hold of her arm.

"Gaah! What are you-" She screeched, panicking.

"Shut up! Do you hear that?!" He stared at her, wide-eyed.

"Hear what?!" Sarah played dumb. _This isn't happening. It's another dream! I'm dreaming! I don't want to hear any-_

"Shhhhh!" Taylor hissed at her, scowling.

They both listened. And she did hear it…Just barely on the edge of her perception, airy whispers and quiet giggles.

_Goblins?!_

"No…..Not here…." She whimpered, terrified.

Sarah looked around, picking out the faces of her former friends…

Sean's face reflected his shock. Luke looked about ready to faint. Stacey's mouth hung open and her eyes were as wide as saucers. MJ looks like she really _did_ see a ghost. And Emily's eyes were tearing up, "N-no way…" Emily whimpered before covering her face.

The music sputtered and died as the lights shut off completely, a few of the students screamed dramatically, but Sarah could still hear the voice. A voice that was all at once horribly alien…and horribly familiar. It came only in pieces though, as if the frequency was off on a radio station...

_"My friends...long...time...",_ the British voice chuckled. The sound raised goosebumps over Sarah's entire body from head to toe. "_I look for...finish...what started... rules by...dear Sarah...apply…_"

Her breathed start coming in shuddering gasps.

"_Everyone…plays…together…"_

And then it was gone.

The lights came back to normal, and the speaker system functioned again. The only signs that 'All is not what it seems...' were the 7 students with their faces ashtray white, and the blown open doors that were still gently banging in the cool breeze.

"He's back." Taylor breathed. He and Sarah looked at each other with unconcealed terror...

.

* * *

.

Super long chapter, this. Sorry about that. Character development can get tedious, and whenever I'm reading a story I always want to be drawn in by the action, not the seemingly pointless details. So, if anyone gets annoyed by the character development… I understand your pain, lol. Let me know how to improve! Sometimes I feel like it lags and pulls at the story, but at the same time it feels like an unnecessary evil because if I kill off any of the characters, I want you to be able to FEEL something instead of it just being a lifeless, black and white character. You know? AND DON'T WORRY! That blond guy in the black Camaro is NOT Jareth in disguise. Not every handsome blonde-haired man is Jareth you guys, sheesh! Lol. But Sarah DOES know him from somewhere...

FUN FACT: Connelly is generally considered to be an Anglicized form of the Old Gaelic _O'Conghaile_. It means "fierce as a hound." The name consists of the Gaelic prefix "O" indicating "male descendant of," plus the personal byname _Conghaile_. _Con_, comes from a word meaning "hound," and _gal_, means "valor."

Connelly was originally an Irish clan from Galway on the western coast of Ireland. Connelly families also settled in County Cork in the southwest, County Meath just north of Dublin, and County Monaghan on the border of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

So, I decided to use Jennifer Connelly's real name for Sarah's ancestors. Pretty cool, eh? Jessica's last name, Cunningham, will have an interesting meaning as well.

As always, please leave a review! Reviews mean the world to me!


	3. Chapter 3: Flashback 1

_Hey guys! A huge thanks to my first two reviewers: Redwood Manning and Guest 2019! Redwood Manning, I left a note for you at the end of the story. Remember, guys! More reviews = More chapters! ^_^ I'm holding them hostage. Muahaha!_

_As always, my disclaimer is that I own nothing by Jim Henson or Pixelberry, namely "the Labyrinth" or "Choices". No money is being made by this fanfiction._

"_Such a pity…"_

_I agree Jareth. I totally agree. Now, on with the show!_

* * *

*.*

**Chapter 3 – Flashback 1**

.*.

_10 years ago..._

The Autumn sun sifted through the trees as Sarah followed her best friend deep into the woods. The trees were preparing for winter, changing their leaves to golden oranges and fiery reds. The smell of Fall was in the air; a spicy aromatic smell that could only be described as..._magical. _It was Sarah's favorite time of the year.

"Jess, where are we going? Your mom's going to kill us if she finds out we're going this far into the woods by ourselves." She grumbled as they navigated through the twisting trees.

They climbed over roots and dodged branches with glistening spider webs. Sarah didn't really take the threat of Jessica's mom seriously, and neither did Jessica. She just wanted to get some of that strawberry cheesecake before Jess's older brother, Taylor, ate it all.

"I know but you've got to see it! Just a li'l further." Jess turned to beam at her excitedly, not breaking pace.

Sarah rolled her eyes but it's all in good fun. Jessica's long spiraled hair glinted in the sun like rubies, ahead of her. She looked like Ariel from the Little Mermaid, they liked to imagine. And while the two friends shared green eyes, it was there that the similarities stopped. Sarah felt like she was stuck with straight, ebony hair while Jessica got her beauty from her Scottish heritage. Whenever Sarah complained to her dad about how lucky Jessica was, he just chuckled and said, "I dunno Sarah…. they say the Irish have more luck! Besides, I like your hair better." Then he'd look up at her mother and wink.

"The Scotts and the Irish, making peace." Aunt O'Connelly said once while she was visiting.

Jessica lead Sarah to the edge of a clearing, pointing to a crumbling stone building on the other side. "We're here!"

Sarah stopped in her tracks. She'd never seen a house built like this before. It looked as old as time itself, with a seemingly dead tree trunk growing from the outside, _into the side_ of the building. It's dead branches reached back out through the open windows like a parasite growing from a beetle off of Animal Planet. The doorway seemed to be held up by stone pillars. There was no door.

"Woah…what is this place?" Sarah couldn't help but feel impressed.

It was like something out of a fairy-tale her mother would read to her. Like a place where a witch would live or something of that kind.

"Dunno! But watch this…" Jess bounced excitedly.

She scooped up a pebble and tossed it at the house. It sailed over the threshold then stopped… in _mid-air_.

"No way!" Sarah's mouth opened in shock.

The pebble hung in the air for a moment, then dropped straight down.

Her shock quickly turned to delight. She and Jessica had always gone on little "adventures" searching for magic. And finally, it had allowed them to find it…

_"_Magic?! We FOUND it! That is so awesome_!_ What the heck is doing that?" She asked Jess with wide eyes. It was a little freaky too, if she was being honest with herself...

"Weird right? I threw all kindsa stuff in their yesterday, but it all just stops!" Jessica whispered to her, drinking in her reaction with pride. "By the way, **I** found it!"

They threw a couple of more pebbles inside, watching entranced as the pebbles were stopped by the invisible barrier.

Sarah turned to Jessica, not content with this trick. She wanted MORE. "I wonder what's inside?"

Jessica caught on, and turned to her in wide-eyed fear, "Inside? W-we can't go _inside_!"

Sarah felt disappointed. "How come? It's not as if anyone lives here anymore. Look! There's holes in the roof."

Jessica looked back over at the ruins, at war with herself.

Sarah lowered her voice excitedly and her pale green eyes sparkled with adventure and a 7-year old's greed, "What if there's _more_ magic inside!?"

Jessica looked back at Sarah, and her eyebrows pulled together, worried. "But what if you're wrong? What if we get in trouble? What if something _bad _happens?" her eyes turned shiny with unshed tears.

Sarah looked at Jessica who stood with her hands balled in fists, her lower lip trembling. She felt compassion.

"Hey," She wrapped her arm around Jessica, "You got your birthday present with you?"

Sniffling, Jessica nodded, reaching under her collar to pull out an old whistle hanging from a necklace chain.

"You got yours?" She asked Sarah hopefully, eyeing her neck.

Sarah grinned and pulled out the strange heavy locket Jessica had given her for her birthday. The two girls' birthdays were one month apart, with Sarah being the oldest.

"Do you remember what I said when I gave it to you?" Sarah asked.

"Th-that if I ever get scared, I should blow on the whistle, and you'll come and protect me." Jessica's lip still trembled but she tried to hide it as she ran her fingers over the smooth metal of the whistle. She raised the whistle to her lips and blew a high trill that rose and fell as it echoed through the clearing.

"He hee…" She scrunched up her face with a smile and giggled at the sound, making her freckles pop.

"Best Friends always keep their promises." Sarah said earnestly, "You're my _best friend_, 'Princess Jessica'! I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you."

Jessica's eyes lit up like they always do whenever Sarah got into her story-telling. 7 years old and they were out conquering their imaginary world. Even though they had never found magic before, they turned everything, even a dingy locket and whistle, into something magical. Jessica wanted to be the 'Princess of Magic' and Sarah, since she lost the coin toss, was dubbed the 'Warrior Princess'. It was an adapt description, even though the two didn't realize it.

Glancing back at the ruins, Sarah could almost hear the stones calling, reaching out for her. Her feet shuffled in place, itching to close the difference. However, a princess also put her friends first. She frowned, and then heaved a sigh. If Jessica didn't want to, then Sarah wasn't going to force her.

"But…but if you're too scared, we can just go ho—"

"I'm not scared!" Jess glowered at Sarah and put her hands on her hips, offended that she would even '_go there'_. Her anger was gone just as fast as it came though, and her face turned timid and worried again.

"Just…promise me, you'll watch out for me?"

"Promise!" Sarah agreed excitedly, "I'll even go first!"

Heart thrumming in her chest, she walked straight up to the doorway. She hesitated for a moment, then... reached out with her fingertips to feel the space inside.

Jess's worried voice came from behind her, "I-is there something there? Does it hurt?"

"It feels…tingly" Sarah said in awe, wiggling her fingers, feeling strange.

As she stepped onto the threshold, the tingling feeling spread over her whole body…then suddenly stopped. Sarah had never felt this way before. Smiling triumphantly, she continued into the dark room beyond...

Cool darkness greeted her, thick as fog, almost thick enough to touch. A shiver rolled over Sarah's shoulders. The house didn't feel empty. Suddenly, she was certain that something was in there with her. Watching her.

"H-hello?" She called out, feeling the need to check.

Her words echoed strangely in the hollow space. The darkness was stifling…and the voice that returned didn't seem entirely her own.

"…_hellLOoo…?"_

"Is…someone there? What's your name?" She asked, biting her lip.

"…_nnnnaaaame…?"_

Sarah waited, unsure. She wondered if it is just a strange echo…but suddenly the leaves at her feet blew aside, revealing a patch of smooth grey stone underneath. As she watched, **letters** were crookedly scratched into the stone one at a time. She gasped and took a step back, hardly believing her eyes. _Maybe this isn't such a good idea…?_

J…A…R….E…T…H

The name was then underlined briskly.

JARETH

"Jaaarrreeeth?" Sarah sounded out the letters, knowing how to read since she was five years old. "Is that your name? Jareth?"

Something shifted in the atmosphere, almost like a POP, and then a sigh filled the room. As if the occupant was finally able to breathe again.

"Sounds cute." Sarah giggled, "Like a teddy-bear! Hee Hee!"

A warm chuckle echoed throughout the dark house in response, bouncing off the stone walls and onto her, making her skin crawl.

"….hHeee heEee…"

"Nice to meet you Jareth. I'm Sarah!", She stepped further into the room.

"…_Saraaah…"_

Her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. Squinting, she saw what looked like stairs in the far corner, disappearing into a jagged hole in the floor. It looked foreboding. _What's down those stairs?_

"Sarah? Is it safe? Who are you talking to?"

She turned to Jessica who's come up to the doorway, suddenly remembering that she was here too, "Hang on a sec… I think there's something—"

Suddenly, a huge gust of wind howled up through the hole in the floor, knocking Sarah off of her feet!

"Aaahhhh!" She cried as she fell to the stone floor with a SMACK!

The wind then suddenly _reversed_ direction, dragging her towards the abyss! Sarah dug her fingers into the crack in the floor, just barely resisting. The wind blew all around her, loud and deafening.

"Sarah?" Jess softly asked, worriedly from the doorway, "What's going on?"

_Huh? Can she not feel or hear this wind?!_

"Jess!" She cried out, reaching a hand out to her, "Help me!"

Through the door, she could see Jess come closer and reach for her hand. But then the wind snatched Jessica and knocked her to the floor as well.

"Yiieeeeee!" Jessica shrieked as she slowly slid past Sarah, scrambling for purchase on the uneven floor.

"Jessica!" Sarah yelled, reaching for her hand. Jess's necklace chain broke with a sharp SNAP, and the whistle vanished down the hole into the floor, which seemed to have a faint light coming from it. Through all the terrifying fear Sarah felt a strange morbid curiosity. _I wonder what…_

Jess screamed, "Sarah! I c-can't hold on! I'm slipping!" and she started to cry.

Suddenly Sarah's fear ignited to anger! Furious, she screamed into the howling darkness, "Stop it, Jareth! Stop it right now, or else…or else my friends are going to come and _burn your stupid house down_!"

"…_Saraaaah…"_ Jareth called out to her softly.

And just like that…

…the wind died, and the house fell still…

Shaking, Sarah cautiously pushed herself up. Jess sobbed quietly a few feet away, still clinging tightly to the floor.

"Jess, c'mon! Let's get out of here." Sarah glanced around the darkness. Searching for what, she didn't know.

"M-my whistle…it took my whistle…" Jessica cried, patting at her neck.

"I know," Sarah said sadly, glancing towards the jagged hole, "But we gotta go before it changes it's mind and takes us too!"

Nodding, Jane let Sarah pull her up, and the two of them sprinted out the front door.

At the edge of the clearing Sarah couldn't resist looking back one more time. The ruins were still and quiet, showing no signs of life…

"Sarah, _come on_!" Jess called to her, already in the woods a few feet away.

"Coming…" Sarah responded.

She turned away, hurrying after Jess. Behind them, a soft whistle rose and fell as it echoed through the clearing…

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Redwood Manning, I totally noticed that! It does have a sort of "Steven King IT" vibe to it, doesn't it? I guess that would make sense because it was the only horror story I've ever actually watched without leaving before it ended XD. I watched the older version when I was 13 (I'm too chicken to see the new one). It was divided into Part I and Part II on two VHS tapes, lol. I found it at my grandma's house and watched it ALONE. And I remember that afterwards I was so scared that it was hard to go to the bathroom for 2 months! I kept hearing "Blup blup blup" in the drain pipes XD

I didn't even finish the second VHS to find out the ending until I was 17 and braver, lol. Don't worry, Jareth doesn't eat kids. That's gross. And too scary for me to write anyways. XD Besides, he's a Dark Jareth, not an Evil Jareth. Haha!

Remember! More reviews = More chapters! ^_^

Hey guys! I know a lot of people are reading this story, but for some reason not commenting. If you like the story let me know! If you don't, let me know as well! Hope you enjoy the suspense of this chapter! I really liked how it turned out. Tchau!


	4. Chapter 4: Moves and Countermoves

Hey guys! I know a lot of people are reading this story, but for some reason not commenting. If you like the story let me know! If you don't, let me know as well! Hope you enjoy the suspense of this chapter! I really liked how it turned out. Tchau!

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**Chapter 4 – Moves and Countermoves**

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All day after the pep rally, Sarah's mind raced with thoughts of Dan, and Jess, and _Him_. Her pencil beat out a frantic rhythm on her desk. It's sound was muted against a blue school binder.

_Dan hasn't been in any of my classes all day, or in the hallways. If the Goblin King is really back...then Dan is in danger. We have to help him!_

"Now if you'll all turn to page 102 in your textbooks..." Mr. Cooper, her balding literature teacher, said.

As he turned to write a couple of things on the board, she snuck open her phone and opened up a new group chat.

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**GROUP CHAT:**

**Sarah 2:40pm  
Guys, this is Sarah. We need to talk.**

**.**

**Emily 2:40pm  
Hey Sarah.**

**.**

**MJ 2:40pm  
Yo**

**.**

**Taylor 2:40pm  
Sup**

**.5**

**Stacey 2:40pm  
Wth how did you get my number?**

**.**

**Sarah 2:41pm  
FaceSpace**

**.**

**Stacey 2:41pm  
Wow creeper much**

**.**

**Sean 2:41pm  
Sarah what'd you want to talk about**

**.**

**Sarah 2:42pm  
The pep rally (And don't pretend you don't know what I mean)**

**.**

**Taylor 2:42pm  
when/where you want to meet**

**.**

**Sarah 2:42pm  
By the fountain after school  
.**

**Stacey 2:42pm  
Can't, I've got practice until 6**

**.**

**Sean 2:43pm  
Same. Meet after?**

**.**

**Sarah 2:43pm  
Guys this is serious**

**.**

**Sean 2:43pm  
I can't just ditch we've got a game coming up.**

**.**

**Sarah 2:43pm  
Fine. ****We meet at 6**

**.**

**Taylor 2:43pm  
This cracks me up  
Oh hey I think you forgot to add luke to this text  
.**

**Sarah 2:44pm  
Crap, you're right. Hang on let m**

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Before Sarah could finish her text, the screen suddenly buzzed, showing the logo sign, and then promptly turned off. _Dead again?!_

"Ugh! What the heck-!" She stared at the phone in betrayal.

"Ahh, Sarah. Nice of you to volunteer. Since you're paying attention, perhaps you'll know the answer to my question..." Mr. Cooper raised an eyebrow at her outburst, "When did the last witch trial take place in the United States?"

"Uhhh..I..." Sarah stared at him, trying to think of the different facts she knew from her history book from _last_ year. Except this was English Literature class for crying out loud!  
Her classmates started to snicker as Mr. Cooper stared her down.

Someone caught her attention from a few rows up. It was Luke! He winked at her then opened his hand under the desk. From her angle, she could make out 4 digits written across his palm**. 1-8-7-8  
**  
"...1878?" Sarah asked, hopeful.

Mr. Cooper's eyebrow raised even higher in obvious surprise, "Well, you certainly kept us in suspense Miss Williams. But you are correct. 1878! Just think about that everyone!" Mr Cooper began pacing the floor around everyone emphatically, "It's not so very long ago! It happened just 75 years before "the Crucible" which we'll be reading this semester. In literature, as in life, the past is always creeping up just right behind us..."

The bell rang.

"...and so does the end of school. Class dismissed." Mr. Cooper sighed, as everyone began to flee. Students began to pack up and Sarah breathed a sigh in relief as she made her way towards Luke. But Mr. Cooper beat her there, stepping up to him.

"Mr. Thomas, a word?" Mr. Cooper said.

"Uh...yeah! Yeah, sure." Luke looked uncomfortable. Sarah hesitated, then turned and slipped out quietly to wait for him.

Out in the hall, she leaned against a wall with an outlet, charging her phone as she waited for Luke.

"Stupid phone...I just charged you..." She scolded the inanimate object, hoping that _this time_ it will learn it's lesson. The hallway emptied as everyone headed home for the day or for after school activities such as drama, art, music, sports...

Gradually, Sarah became aware of muffled voices inside the classroom.

"...and I know what you're doing..." Mr. Cooper's voice.

"...don't know what you're talking about..." Luke's voice.

"...may have everyone else fooled but you can't fool me..." Mr. Cooper's angry voice.

_Huh? What's going on in ther_e? She wanted to get closer and debated within herself if she should or not. _Well, I already know something's up… so I can't hurt to listen a little more, right? _Guiltily, she edged closer and moved to put her ear to the door.

Suddenly cold hands grabbed Sarah from behind and covered her eyes, shrouding her in darkness.

_"THERE you are..."_

"Aaaahhhhh!" She screamed. Panic flooded her body and she struggled wildly against her captor as she's forcefully dragged down the hall.

"NOOOOOOO! Let me go! Let me—Oooofff!" She let out a gasp of pain, as she was shoved backwards into a metal wall. She heard a deafening SLAM and then...muffled laughter.

"Whaaa...HEY!" Sarah found herself in the peculiar situation of looking out from the slits of a school locker.

"Hahahahaha! OMG, your face!" _Ugh. I'd know that stupid laugh from Jocelyn anywhere._

Cody's eye filled the light coming from the slots as he grinned evilly at her. "School's back in session, Sarah!", He bellowed triumphantly.

"Let me out you morons!", Sarah yelled, pounding the metal where Cody's eye had just been, making the locker echo loudly in her ears.

Jocelyn crooned sweetly to her, "Awww, but we wanted to make sure your school year started off with a BANG!" She kicked the locker door, making Sarah yelp and cover her ears.

"Get comfy in there Sarah." Cody smiled brightly at her through the slots, "We'll check on you tomorrow morning." He winked and walked off.

"Byyyeeeeee!" Jocelyn wiggled her finger and strutted after Cody. Their laughter receded down the hall, leaving her alone in the cramped, dark space.

"Arrrrraaaagggghhhhhh!" Rage filled her from head to toe and she slamed as hard as she could against the metal door, and yelled "Come back here you cowards! Let me out! You're going to pay for this!"

After a few minutes of banging, pushing, punching and... she hated to admit it...swearing, the locker door still wouldn't budge. Her eardrums felt like they were bleeding from how loud the slams and shouts echo were in such a closed space.

She slumpd against the back wall, defeated. Angry tears began to prick her eyes, and she blinked them back, biting her lip to hold in a sob as her shoulders started to shake. _Great. Perfect way to start the school year. My SENIOR year, no less. I'm such a loser..._

_"...Sarah..."_

"What now? You guys think of some more fun ways to torture me?" She growled, kicking the door so they get the hint.

_"...more...fun..."_

"Get lost Cody! I'm not scared of you!" Sarah slapped both hands against the locker to make a loud sound.

BANG! BANG! BANG! The whole locker began to shake, and the shadows all around Sarah seemed to thicken...growing colder...closing in...

"N-not scared. I'm _not_ scared. _I'm not scared!_" Sarah covered her face and ears, trying to block out the whispers and feeling of being trapped. She pressed her palms into her face….. everything swirled….and then it all stopped.

She hesitantly opened her eyes and then gasped.

Twisted trees and ferns were all around her, dappled by the sunlight shining through the leaves. _I'm in... the woods?! Impossible!_

"I'm not scared!", someone said from behind her and she whirled around to face the voice. But when she saw who it was, she did a double-take.

Jessica stood before her, just like she remembered her at 8 years old.

Her baby-blue sundress had no wrinkles, and her crimson locks fell around her shoulders. She was upset… standing with her hands on her hips, and glaring at Sarah just like she did years ago. The ruins loomed against the backdrop of tangled trees behind her.

"Jess?" Sarah took a step towards her, feeling her heart ache. "Jess? W-we have to leave! Come with me!" Sarah looked over at the ruins worriedly.

She tried to reach her but her body was suddenly frozen, staying in place. The golden sun fell behind the trees and night quickly crept over the woods. Sarah struggled against her invisible prison.

Jessica just gazed at her sadly, "Promise you'll look after me?"

"Oh, Jess!" Sarah let out a choked sob. The green of the forest turned a foreboding dark blue. The moon peeped through the trees above them casting strange shadows all around. "Jess, I...I didn't know what would happen..." Sarah pleaded for her to understand...To forgive her... To allow her to forgive herself.

Jess looked at her with huge sad eyes while Sarah watched as darkness bleeded from the windows and doorway of the ruins, shadowy tendrils reaching out for her childhood friend.

The darkness finally grabbed hold of Jess and snatched her back toward to the house!

"Sarah!" Jess shrieked out to her, trying to grab onto any trees root or stones but to no avail. She screamed as she was swallowed up by the darkness inside the doorway.

"NOOOOO! Jessica!" Sarah cried. Her legs weren't frozen anymore and they gave out in despair. She fell to the floor and closed her eyes in agony.

"Please..." She whispered, knowing no one can hear her, "Take me!...take me instead."

_"Say your right words, Sarah."_

Sarah gasped, her head snapping up. In the doorway, where Jessica disappeared, stood the creature. The Goblin King. _Jareth_.

He was shrouded in darkness just like she remembered. His clothes and cape were as black as a black hole, sucking light into it. The darkness shrouding him made his gravity-defying blonde hair almost a stark white atop his pale inhuman face. All the memories that Sarah had tried to bury came rushing back as she gazed upon him.

"Jareth" She whispered unwillingly and began to slowly, carefully, rise to her feet again.

Not wanting to make any sudden movements; she kept her eyes focused on the enemy before her. He sighed happily as she said his name and his cape and hair billowed excitedly in an invisible wind, tendrils of inky blackness seeped from him, gently spreading out like smoke. Sarah winced, knowing that she really had to stop accidentally saying his name. It held power. Only Jess and she knew his true name while everyone else just called him the Goblin King. Look where that got them...

"_My darling girl. How I've missed you. 10 years, I believe it's been_!" he smirked at her and clasped his hands, eyes shining like fallen stars, "_All grown up I see_."

"Goblin King, you have no power over me." Sarah glared, not allowing any pretenses. _I'm 18 now. Not an 8-year-old. I can take him. _

The fact that the Goblin King was speaking in complete sentences showed that he had some semblance of power here…unlike other times when his words came out at a strange, uneven frequency like at the pep-rally.

"_For now."_ He threatened, and cocked his head smiling pleasantly at Sarah._ "You really are the most difficult human I've ever encountered. So, please, don't stop now",_ He said almost fondly.

_Is that a compliment?_

"Where am I?" Sarah asked. She had to look away from him. He was mesmerizing, just like she remembered. Strange and wonderful and magical and...and a _killer_.

With that thought, she angrily forced herself to look back at him, charms be damned, "Where is Jessica?"

Deep inside, she knew what she saw was an illusion. But still. She wanted to hear him admit it.

_"She's not here, Sarah_." He examined the black gloves on his hands, nonchalantly. "_I'm sure you already knew that. And neither are you, unfortunately. _" He looked back up at her, smiling. His eyes were annoyed however while his voice remained friendly, "_Consider that little scene with Jessica **payback** for what you did to Caiatus when he paid you a visit this morning. Burning his face?_" he tutted, "_Bad form, my dear."_

Sarah stared at him for a moment, wondering at his words. _I'm not here? Then where the heck am I?! One of his "dreams"?_

Her glare deepened, and she yanked at her shirt at the neckline, "And this IS good form?" She grit out, alluding to the bruises on her neck. "Your Caiatus friend sure knows how to convince a girl….**to stay away**!"

He waved it off, "_Rest assured my dear,_ _Caiatus paid for what he did to you...but we must finish what we started. Bring your friends since its part of your **rules**, Sarah_._ It matters not to me." _He smiled, cruelly _"Or, you will come by force and all your friends will suffer on your behalf."_

Sarah glared at him and asked what she'd wanted to know for 10 years, "Why? Why all these games? Come get me yourself!"

Jareth smiled, and leaned against the doorway to the stone house. _"So that's what you want, is it? Patience, dear Sarah. All in good time."_

She hid her shiver. _Just words...only words. H-he can't get to me. Otherwise he wouldn't have sent his...Caiatus... in his place. He has no power. Not like last time. _Sarah straightened and looked into the eyes of the beast. He had nothing to offer her that she wanted. She wanted Jess back. But Jareth had no cards on the table. Jess was dead. Jareth seemed to guess what she was thinking.

_"I wanted it to be you, Sarah. Truly, I did. I still do. But Jessica volunteered herself. And so my deal is with her…BUT there are still moves and countermoves to be made. Decisions to still be …. **decided**."_ Jareth murmured, watching her carefully.

"You wanted me dead...how wonderful, Jareth! I'm so glad I met you!" Sarah spat out at him, furious. "Kill me already. Stop wasting my freaking time!" She didn't mean it, she was just angry. But she thought about his other words…_His deal is with Jessica? As in the present tense? What can he mean? Could Jess be alive?_

His face flashed with something. He looked angry, but it soon faded away as he gazed at her thoughtfully. Then he cocked his head and asked almost innocently, "_Dead is an interesting term. Would you consider me alive, Sarah?_" He smiled softly and cryptically said, "_Death is merely a new beginning. It's nothing to be afraid of. You don't cease to exist, or cease to be you…In fact, when you truly look at it, death is merely…an illusion._"

"What are you talking about?" She asked, feeling a budding of hope. Could Jess be alive? Or…alive _dead_? She shook her head, confused, and tried to squash down this feeling. Jess wasn't coming back. But she took a step toward the ruins, nonetheless, her hands balled into fists.

Jareth's face flashed with something again, this time it's more akin to excitement, and his blackness seemed to spread a bit farther.

_He's never seems to be able to control himself around me,_ Sarah realized. _I wonder what would happen if I walked up to him?_ She dared not risk it. He was obviously held captive by the ruins, even in this dream world of sorts, and there he would stay if she had anything to do with it.

Even now, after all these years, he gave off a strange allure that 7 and 8-year-old Sarah couldn't resist and now 18-year-old Sarah was consciously struggling against. He was handsome in a strange way that she hadn't and still didn't know how to pin down. She really had no one to compare him to, to be honest. He looked so different from anyone else on earth. Sarah shook her head, and stepped back, sure that this attraction she felt couldn't be real. It had to be another illusion created by magic. It wasn't possible, she reasoned within herself, that she could TRULY feel something for such a dark being. _You can't even call him a person because he's not human. It has to be an illusion. This attraction is simply black magic. Has to be. _Sarah's heart sank, feeling the pain of losing Jess all over again.

She glareed daggers at him. "Your tricks won't work on me, Goblin King." She took yet another step back to emphasize her point, "And I won't go back Underground."

The Goblin King had a way of making you forget. She couldn't allow herself to EVER forget what he was or what he did. She turned to walk away.

_"Ah. I see. Poor Dan then..."_ he said nonchalantly.

Sarah stopped in her tracks. When she turned back to him, horror was written on her face, "NO..."

"_YES_…", Jareth pushed from off the doorway, grinning wickedly, _"He came by to pay me a little visit the other night and I may have given him quite a scare..._"

_Why would Dan DO that? Why go back?!_

Her throat felt dry and she tried to swallow. What did Jareth want!? Why is he doing all this? Should she beg? She watched him, trying to figure out what he was trying to gain from all of this. He watched her too, with just as much intensity. They both stared at each other, calculating.

Finally, after a long moment of searching each other's faces, he chuckled and shook his head in a very human manner, "_Ah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah. What am I going to do with you?"_

"I've been wondering the answer to that question myself." She bit out, angry tears starting to cloud her vision, "Why do my friends have to be involved in this?"

Jareth turned somber and gazed at her, all hints of teasing and cruelty gone. He looked almost tired. "_YOU drug them into this, Sarah. YOU changed up the rules, the rules of how I must proceed. You did it unknowingly, you were so young, but what's said…is said._" He sighed, and continued, "_Time is running out...For the both of us. If I was you, I would go help my friend before time runs out for him too."_

He nodded to her then, an unreadable expression in his eyes, and he backed into the ruins. His face disappeared into the shadows and for a moment Sarah was alone. Only the inky dark tendrils of his magic remained outside the ruins… then, they started creeping outwards slowly.

Suddenly the shadows exploded out, a loud black hurricane barreling towards her!

She gasped and raised her hands up in defense...and then she was falling.

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So! What do you think so far? Criticism? Comments? Leave a review and I'll update sooner 3


	5. Chapter 5: A Doubting Thomas

Ok! So, a few changes have taken place. I have turned the story into 3rd person narrative. I REALLY wanted to do a first person narrative, but a lot of people were reading the story and not making it past the first chapter, which means that something was wrong with it. So, I went through the whole story and changed the narrative. Hopefully people will like it better.

Enjoy the chapter! This has some more character development, but I was happy with the way it turned out.

As always, more reviews = more chapters!

**Disclaimer:** Dunno why I have to keep posting this disclaimer. If characters from the "Labyrinth" and the "Choices" Universe didn't belong to me in the first chapter, what makes you think they'd belong to me now? No copywrite. Just fanfiction.

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**Chapter 5: Doubting Thomas**

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"Ahhhhh!" Sarah screamed.

The locker door sprang open and she fell onto the floor, her hands catching her. She gasped frantically for air. Slowly, she realized someone was leaning over her, talking to her. She looked up to see her old friend, bending down worriedly.

"Luke! Thank you!"

"Of course! Easy now..." Luke rubbed her back, concerned.

The artificial light of the school hallway had never brought her such relief. She took Luke's hand and he pulled her to her feet.

"How'd you get the door open?" Sarah asked, surprised.

Luke folded his arms and frowned disapproving at the lockers. His chocolate brown hair was slicked back into the latest style, and his clothes looked new and expensive for the first day of school. His black rimmed glasses gave him a "laid back professional" look and rested gently on his nose, highlighting his chocolate brown eyes. His parents were Brazillian, but he was born and raised here, so he had the Brazillian olive-toned skin but not the accent.

"I've been telling the school for years that we need to replace these old lockers. Anyone can open them if they know the trick..." he turned to Sarah and gave her a half grin, "Guess it's a good thing they never took my advice, huh?

Sarah shook her head at him and chuckled, "Yeah, lucky me."

Sarah paused, concerned. The events of the locker already seemed to blurry up. Kind of like when you wake up from a dream and you remembered it when you first woke up, but 5 minutes later and you only have bits and pieces. This troubled Sarah, and she felt a strange panic inside. She tried to sift through all her emotions and thoughts. Something about the Goblin King and Dan. And…death?

Luke smiled, then glanced at his watch and heaved a weary sigh.

"Late to something?" Sarah askd. She decided not to bring up the strange conversation she heard between him and Mr. Cooper.

"Just a lot to do, as always. Did you want to report this incident? I can take you by the office if you like."

Sarah shook her head and grumbled, "I doubt it'd do any good." She turnd to look at him then, remembering why she was waiting for him in the first place. "But...there's actually something else I needed to talk to you about."

"Oh!" He looked torn, "Uhh, can we walk and talk? I've got some things I need to take care of before I head out."

Sarah noded, and the two of them set off at a brisk pace.

"It's about what happened at the pep rally." She cut to the chase. No reason to mince words with Luke Thomas.

"Oh the blackout? Don't worry. I've already filed a maintenance report. Can't have the lights going out during the basketball game." Luke waved his hand, as if the issue was a pesky fly, not really worth his time.

"And the voice?" She insisted.

"The…" Luke looked flustered and shocked, "I don't know what you're talking about."

It was Sarah's turn to look shocked, "But—"

"Sorry, one sec." Luke cut her off and before she could say another word, he ducked into the auditorium. She had no choice but to follow.

Inside, he waved to a group of band kids on the stage. "Sounds great, guys! Just make sure you're done in here by quarter to four, okay? Drama club needs time to set up."

Sarah stopped and found herself staring at the lavish red curtain of the stage longingly, memories of plays and performances…

Luke seemed to remember something and glanced back at her brightly, asking a bit too loudly "Hey Sarah! You gonna join Drama club this year?"

Sarah smiled softly, and shook her head no. He shrugged, seeming to have expected that answer and continued on his way, "Give it some thought. You'd be sensational."

She sighed. She really didn't want to talk about this. She didn't want to think about her mother. They needed to talk about the issue at hand!

"Luke Thomas, listen to me! The Goblin King is back!" Sarah said point blank, desperate. _This is getting ridiculous. _

"Goblin King…what, from when we were kids?" Luke looked back at her incredulously, still not breaking pace. "Sarah, come on. That was just some make-believe game that you and Jess made up."

Sarah rolled her eyes, feeling angry although she knew that she had no right to. She was just like Luke. In order to move on from the trauma of the past, she had convinced herself that it had all been a game. A dream. Until she was attacked last night….and again in a locker…

She quickly jogged until she was in front of him, blocking his path. She angrily placed her hands on her hips and looked him in the eyes, "Are you _sure_ about that?"

Luke looked rattled…even more so when the phone in his pocket started buzzing. _Huh?_

"I, uh, I have to answer this. Excuse me." Luke muttered, not making eye-contact. He slipped around her and out a side door.

Sarah glanced once more at the lavish auditorium with it's shiny wooden stage, deep red curtains, and plush chairs. _Mom…._

Sarah felt a great wave of sadness, before sighing and following the direction Luke went.

By the time she caught up, he was already in the middle of a phone call.

"Yes, mom, I know college prep is tonight, but we talked about this…Mmmhmmm..…..Because, I have to meet with the homecoming _and _yearbook committees after school, and I can't be in three places at once!" Luke huffed, running his hand through his gelled-back hair, angry. "I know, Mom. I know. Yeah, I love you too. Bye."

Sarah felt a little worried about him. "Jeez, you really _are_ busy. You know, if you would _slow down_ for a second—"

"Pretty sure the school would literally collapse." Luke deadpanned at her. He raised an eyebrow, daring Sarah to refute his claim. She wanted to laugh in his face at the absurdity of what he just said…but she didn't. Luke's pride was important to him, and she _needed_ him on her side.

Luke's phone buzzed again. He checked it and sighed. "Great. Now the school paper says they need an interview…" his eyebrows shot up to his forehead, "TOMORROW?!"

His words came faster and faster, growing louder as he started to pace back and forth, "How am I supposed to get ready for an interview by _tomorrow_?! I can't handle this right now!"

"Whoa, Luke! Stop and breathe for a second!" Sarah put a hand on Luke's shoulder, meeting his eyes. "Just focus on me, okay? Deep breath in…" She took a long deep breath, motioning for Luke to do the same. "Good, now back out, nice and slow."

They did it a few more times. Finally, Luke shook his head and chuckled at her.

"Better?" She asked.

He smiled, "Yeah, a little."

"Good. Now, about this interview…" She came up with a plan, "Maybe it'd be less stressful if I helped you prepare? We could go grab a milkshake down the street, and I could throw you some softball questions. I've been meaning to catch up with you anyways. It's a perfect excuse for me to ask all kinds of nosey stuff."

"Th-that would be great! You'd really do that?" He looked at her surprised.

"Of course! My parents are out of town and I have nothing I need to do." _And I don't want to go home to an empty house…_She thought. "But you have to promise to hear me out for five minutes when we're done." She finished sternly, giving him a look.

He debated inside himself before finally sighing, "Alright. Deal."

In the small town of Westchester, there's really not much to do. Sure, there's a cinema, a few tasty restaurants, and a fair Library. But it's mostly a town for outdoor hobbies such as hiking, camping, as well as fishing and boating on the lake that's not too far away on the other side of the mountain. That being said, one of the more popular hang-out places was a cozy diner on Main street called "Rosie's Place".

Sarah and Luke came in and sat at one of the tables. 15 minutes later and they were sipping cool ice-cream through a straw. Well, Sarah was anyways as Luke opted out for a hot coffee.

She got down to business. Putting on her best reporter voice, she mimicked writing in a notebook.

"Hi, there! I'm Sarah with the _Westchester Word_. Thanks for sitting down with me." She beamed at him brightly, getting into character, "And can I just say, sir, what an honor it is to interview _the_ Class President Thomas?"

"Oh, gosh," Luke laughed at Sarah, "Uh, my pleasure. I'm a…big fan of your work? I guess?"

"Aww thanks!" She tried to gush the way that Lily, the school reporter, liked to do when giving interviews, "Let's start with an easy question, to help our readers get to know you better. Tell us about your hobbies!"

Luke broke character and burst out worriedly, "Sarah, who has time for hobbies?!"

"Uh, Luke, that's a _terrible_ answer!" She huffed at him, breaking character as well. "Everyone has hobbies. You must do something other than school stuff. You're not a robot."

"I guess I-I beatbox. A little." He tried, "It's not that big of a deal…"

"Oh my gosh, no way!" She got back into her 'Lily' character and 'wrote' that down excitedly. "Now you have to show me!"

"Uh, isn't this supposed to be a newspaper interview? How would that even work? What, would you transcribe it?" He raised an eyebrow.

"No, I'd just be like, 'Mr. Thomas proceeded to spit a series of sick beats. They were so hella dope my soul briefly left my body.'"

"Hahahahaha!" He laughed, leaning back.

She grinned at him knowingly. _He looks a lot calmer than he's been all day._ _Good! My plan is working. Muahaha!_

"Moving right along…Let's talk about the school year ahead. What are you looking forward to most?" She asked.

"Ooooh, good question. I´d say this year what I'm most looking forward to is homecoming."

"Really? That's surprising." She looked curiously at him over her 'imaginary' glasses.

"This is the first year the student council has an actual budget, Sarah! So we can afford to hire a decent DJ!"

"Wow. So, a school dance is actually gonna be cool for once?" Dances weren't really her scene but she, like anyone, could appreciate a good DJ.

"That's the hope." Luke said happily.

She got into character yet again, "Well, since we're on the subject, let's talk about the event on everyone's mind…This year's homecoming. How's planning coming along?"…

*~*~*20 minutes later*~*~*

Sarah clicked her imaginary pen and closed her notebook, the interview coming to a close.  
"Well, I think that's just about everything I need for the interview! Look for it in the stands tomorrow."

"Hah!" He rolled his eyes and smiled, "But seriously, thanks Sarah. That helped a lot."

"Anytime Luke! I'm glad I could help." She put her notebook in her backpack and took a deep breath, "Now...there's something else I needed to talk to you about."

"You mean what happened at the pep rally." His face fell.

"Yeah. So, you heard them then? The whispers? The voice?"

Luke scratched his arm uncomfortably, glancing around, "I mean, look, I don't need it getting around that the Class President hears voices...but _hypothetically_, suppose I did? Then what?"

"Well, then _hypothetically_ a bunch of us are meeting by the fountain to talk about it. So... you in? Or are you too busy?" She tried to plead with her eyes. They all needed to figure this out together.

Luke sighed and then calmly nodded his head, "I'm in. I owe it to you at least that much for helping me with my interview."

"Great. See you then?" She stood up, pleased.

"Yeah, yeah. See you then."

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Reviews?

"Gimme Gimme Gimme! I need I need I need I need! I'll do the work, I'm not a slacker!" Ten points for whoever knows this movie XD


	6. Chapter 6: 'The Fellowship of the King'

I was supposed to wait for more reviews before posting this. That was the plan. But I GOT TOO EXCITED AND I HAD TO POST IT TODAY! It's probably my favorite chapter so far. Guest 2019, thank you for always reviewing. And thanks also to PrincessoftheFae! This chapter is for you guys! Hopefully it explains your question, Guest2019. ;)

Disclaimer: I'm not even going to WRITE the disclaimer here because I've already written it in the first 5 chapters. Any doubts, and I suggest you go back and have a looksy :D

Enjoy!

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**Chapter 6: The Fellowship of the King**

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A few hours later and the sun was slowly sinking behind the trees. It was the last few minutes of the day before the sun went off to shine on another part of the world. Sarah pushed open the school doors, and walked out of the building. She had no reason to go home to an empty house, and then come back for the meeting, she reasoned. So she had decided to hang around school the whole day. The sky was beginning to turning a cobalt blue with stars peeping out, one by one.

She found Taylor, Emily, and Luke already waiting in silence by the school fountain. Sean arrived a minute later with Stacey trailing behind, texting busily.

"Hey guys!" Stacey smiled brilliantly at them, "One sec..."

"Jeez, how is it this dark already?" Sean grimaced, shoving his hands into his team basketball jacket and looking up at the sky. "It's only 6:10!"

Taylor stood up from his seat on the fountain. Emily stood to move by Sarah, her hands twisting nervously together. The soft underwater lights of the fountain auomatically turned on and the water continued to gurgle peacefully.

"Who're we missing?" Taylor asked.

"Um...I don't see MJ.." Emily softly said, nervously looking around.

"You guys look like the cover of a Christian rock album." MJ spoke up from behind them, making Emily jump.

"Jeez! What are you, a ninja?" Sean asked, startled as well.

"Vampire." MJ deadpanned.

Emily's mouth fell open, "But...I've seen you in the sun!"

"I am the day walker. Fear me." She deadpanned again.

It took everything in Sarah not to not laugh and roll her eyes at Emily's expression. She cleared her throat. "Ok, look...we all know why we're here. The black out at the pep rally. The wind. The voice."

"I... I don't know what you're talking about." Stacey gulped and stared around at the group wide-eyed.

This time Sarah _did_ roll her eyes. _Why would she even **be** here if she didn't know?_

"Stacey, I saw your face during the rally. I saw ALL of your faces and you were just as freaked out as I was. You all heard the same thing I did."

Taylor nodded, "'Everyone plays together."

A long, heavy pause filled the air as everyone refused to look at each other.

"There's...there's something else..." Emily spoke up timidly. She held out her phone with chubby, shaky hands.

"Emily...are those texts from Dan?!" Sarah gasped.

"Wait...you got them **too!**?" Luke was shocked too.

MJ held up her hands, "Hold up, did we _all_ get weird-ass texts from Dan last night?"

Sarah's fingers moved towards the bruises on her neck which began to ache at her touch.  
"Guys... I have to tell you something..."

She summoned her courage and told them everything that happened last night. The texts...the blackout...the fae creature that wore Dan's face.  
"I know it sounds crazy. But…. the Goblin King is _back_." Sarah looked around at the familiar faces surrounding her, gauging their expressions.

Sean's face scrunched in fury, "We have to call the cops. Right now. They'll find that sicko that attacked you..."

"Sean," Sarah tried to calm him down, "There's no point. There's no way the police would believe us."

"You don't know that!" He got angrier, "Why does no one EVER call the cops or tell an adult?! This is like one of those stupid, cliched horror stories! We gotta tell the police."

Sarah scoffed and shook her head. Pssh._ I think Sean's been reading fanfiction again..._

She turned to MJ to prove her point, "MJ, would your dad believe you if you told him that a mythical nightmare shadow being from an underground realm was coming to kill us all after we accidentally woke him up from a 1,000 year slumber about 10 years ago?" Sarah raised her eyebrows at her.

MJ's normally stoic face broke into a genuine smile and she chuckled. Everyone stared at the sight. It was so rare to see MJ smile.

"Hell no. He'd make me pee in a cup and search my room for drugs."

Taylor recovered the fastest, "Uhh…Besides, what are cops going to do against the Goblin King? Arrest him?"

Sean looked crushed, "Yeah, alright. I get it." He crossed his arms and aimed a sharp kick at a pebble on the asphalt, sending it flying across the school parking lot. "Still…it could've been just some creep trying to take advantage of Sarah..."

Sarah made an indignant sound, but before she could say anything, MJ said "Oh yeah, uh speaking of cop stuff, Dan's parents reported him missing this morning."

"They what?!" Sarah turned to her, terrified. She had already imagined that was the case. Now it was just official. Memories from her strange experience in the locker start flooding back to her…._the Goblin King himself told me that Dan was lost in the woods_. _  
_  
"Dan's missing and you're just telling us about it now?!" Taylor scowled.

MJ looked embarrassed for a moment and then glared back defensively, "I figured you had already heard about it!"

"Not everyone's dad is the Sheriff, MJ!" Stacey snapped at her, high-strung.

Sarah looked at the forest in the far distance, the outlying black tree-tops were barely visible without the sun. _Time is running out_.

She turned to the group, determined, "Guys, Dan's in s_erious_ trouble. We have to go find him!"

Stacey waved her arms around, "Sarah, come **on**. He needs _actual_ help from, like, adults!...and professionals!...Professional adults!"

Sarah shook her head, "No. It has to be us."

Luke spoke up then, "And why is that, precisely?"

Sarah gulped and said, "Because we know _who _took him."

Stacey scoffed, "Right...his imaginary friend from when he was, like, 8 years old."

"The Goblin King wasn't _just_ Dan's friend." Sarah glared at her pointedly.

MJ glared at Stacey too, "And you damn well know that he wasn't imaginary."

Sarah became desperate and looked pleadingly to Stacey and the rest of them, "I know no one here wants to dredge this stuff back up…ESPECIALLY me….But it _happened_. We all saw the Goblin King, and we all saw what he did to Jess." Sarah grew angry, "We CAN'T let him do the same thing to Dan."

"No one did anything to Jess, Sarah. It was just a freak accident." Stacey said sadly. She looked about ready to break into a million pieces. But she wasn't letting go of her illusion... she wasn't giving in.

Taylor lost it and yelled at her, "That's bull, and you know it."

"All I know is that we were a bunch of dumb kids who shouldn't have been playing in the woods_ by themselves_!" She yelled back.

'President Thomas' came between them with his hands up and calmly said, "Look, let's just all calm down and consider the facts. Everything that happened at the rally can be explained by some faulty wiring."

Sarah scoffed out loud, shaking her head. _Can the door blowing open be explained by faulty wiring as well? And the texts? Puh-lease.  
_  
He looked over at Sarah sternly and continued, "As for Dan... what exactly are you proposing we do?"

Sarah, like Taylor, had had enough of this. "Isn't it obvious?! We have to _stop_ this! _Now_! We have to go find Dan and figure out what Ja..._The Goblin King_ did, so we can undo it. We have to go-"

"...Into the woods..." Emily gasped.

The wind picked up. Leaves flew across the asphalt as Emily backed away, shaking her head frantically.

"No. No, no no...I am _not_ going back there." She started to tremble like a scared lamb.

Taylor moved toward Emily holding his hands up in a calming gesture. " Emily, I know you're scared but if we want this to stop we have to-"

Sean blocked his path, putting a gentle but firm hand on his chest, "Back off man, Emily doesn't _have_ to do anything that she doesn't want to."

"Are you serious right now?" Taylor turned angry.

Somewhere a heavy door slammed open.

Everyone tensed as one, like a group of stray animals caught in a predator's stare. Three cheerleaders rounded the corner of the gym, chatting happily as they passed. They vanished into the school and the group started to breathe again.

Stacey was the first to speak, and she was spiteful, "Taylor...maybe _you_ have time going running around the woods chasing boogiemen, but some of us have _real _problems."

Taylor turned to her with rage, "Gettin' kidnapped by some shadow-monster nightmare-dude seems like a PRETTY _REAL_ PROBLEM!"

"Guys...we need _everyone's_ help." Sarah tried to calmly say to Stacey.

"I'm sorry. I just can't get involved with this." She gazed at Sarah desperately, willing for her to take sides with her. _Why is she…?_

Taylor seethed, "Why? Afraid it will mess up your precious popular world?"

Stacey's eyes flashed, "No, because if Dan's been kidnapped by some crazy guy, a bunch more of us stumbling around the woods isn't going to do much for him!"

"And what if it's not some guy?" Sarah tried again for the final time, "What if there's actually something supernatural going on?"

Emily's voice trembled as she put her two cents in, "Then we should stay far, _far_ away from it!"

Taylor rounded on Emily like a mad dog, "So you're just going to close your eyes and pretend that nothing's happening, just like you did when my sister died?"

Their faces all fell.

"Taylor..." Stacey tried, looking about ready to cry.

"No. I've had enough of this. The Goblin King killed Jess right in front of us, and you all shrugged it off like nothing happened."

"Hey! No one 'shrugged off' anything." Sean said, angrily.

"The hell you didn't! Class president, cheerleader, basketball jock, football star...you all seem to be doing pretty fine."

The gang all looked at Taylor, _really_ looked at him. His beanie covered his head of long, unwashed hair that stopped at his shoulders. His jeans were saggy on his boney hips because he was a bean pole, very thin. He was wearing a faded denim jacket with a few holes. Sarah felt like she got punched in the gut. She knew his mom didn't earn a lot of money. They mostly got help from the government ever since Taylor's dad walked out on them, and his mom collected disability because she got crazy migraines so that she refused to work. 10 years later and Taylor's situation had gotten worse with time and not better for it. Besides that, they had all sort of abandoned him, which made it worse. It was no excuse, but unconsciously they all thought the same thing: Every time they looked at his face...they could see a hint of Jessica.

He continued, "The second Jess was in the ground you all were happy to move on with your lives and you're pulling the same stunt with Dan."

Stacey exploded defensively, "Oh now you care about Dan? Where have you been for the past year? Where were you when Dan got totally wasted at winter formal? Where were you when he was having breakdowns after every football game? Where the hell were you Taylor? Where were _any_ of you?" She turned to glare at Sarah.

This was all news to Sarah. She was speechless. "I-I didn't know Dan was having so much trouble...why didn't he say anything?" She thought back to the last time they had really talked_. It's been a long time.  
_  
"Because apparently when you become a big strong _football star_, you're not allowed to have _feelings_." Stacey retorted, looking back at Taylor.

"But we could have helped...I mean, I could have helped…" Sarah felt downtrodden. _What happened to us? Why have we allowed this to happen?  
_  
"Well, now it's too late." Stacey angrily turned away, her long blonde hair whipping around as she stormed off without another word. Emily looked down at the ground, holding her textbooks in a shaking, white-knuckled grip.

"Emily..." Sarah tried softly.

"I... I'm sorry." Now Emily really was crying, "But I can't go back there. I just can't." She turned and hurried back towards the school, the glowing windows promising comfort and protection.

Taylor turned to glare at Luke, "I guess you're going to bail too, Captain America?"

Luke held his hands up in surrender, "Look, even if I _did_ believe all this Goblin King stuff...I just don't have the time. Really." Luke sadly shook his head. He gave the group a last glance before he turned and headed toward the school as well.

"Fine! Just bury your heads in the sand! This isn't going to stop, you know!" Taylor yelled after them all.

Sarah sighed, "Taylor, leave them alone. If they won't admit what's happening, then they won't be any help anyway."

She sighed again, then turned to MJ who was cleaning her black nails, "So, what about you?"

MJ looked up and grinned. She was really quite beautiful when she smiled. "Oh, a creepy deep-woods ghost hunt is _emphatically_ my brand. I'm in."

Sean spoke up, "Me too. I don't know about this Ghost crap...but Dan's a good guy and he needs us."

Sarah nodded, grateful that it wouldn't just be Taylor and her.

"So, when are we going? Friday?" MJ asked chipper.

Taylor and Sarah looked at her incredulously.

"What? No! We have to go tonight!" Taylor exclaimed.

MJ's face fell, "Uggh. I can't. My dad has this really strict school-night curfew, especially since it's the first day and...WOW… that actually sounds really lame out loud…" She looked sheepish.

"Yeah, I can't go tonight either. The team needs me here early tomorrow for training." Sean also said apologetically.

MJ rolled her eyes at Sean's excuse and turned to him, "Sure they do. How will team 'DudeBro' know they're having fun without some Asian minority to exclude?"

Sean stiffened, ready to snap at MJ...then he wilted, grumbling, " I mean, you're not _wrong_. But I have to keep showing up, right? They can't ignore me forever..."

MJ went back to being her sardonic herself, "I admire your optimism."

"So that's it? You're both sure you can't come?" Sarah looked between the two, beseeching.

Sean and MJ looked at each other doubtfully.

"MJ, what if we told your dad you were studying at my house?" Sarah suggested.

MJ looked surprised, "Huh. That might actually do it. He's always liked you. And he'll be thrilled to hear me making 'normal' friends."

Sarah then turned to Sean, "Sean I know that basketball is important to you but this could be the difference between life and death. You're the strongest person here, and I'd feel a lot better with you looking out for us."

Sean laughed, puffing out his chest a little, pleased that people have noticed his weight gain. "Well, when you put it that way... alright. I'm in."

"Taylor?" Sarah turned to him, already knowing the answer.

Taylor smiled for the first time today. It's a teensy smile, but a smile nonetheless "Yeah, I'm in."

"Alright then. I've gotta go in and grab my stuff from my locker. You guys go on ahead. We'll meet in front of the hardware store."

Taylor nodded, "Alright. And then what?"

They all looked to Sarah and it suddenly brought back memories of when they were all children, gearing up for an adventure together. Off to destroy the 'One Ring' of Sauron, or kill an evil Dragon, or some other wild tale of epic legend that they invented.

Sarah felt herself stand up a little straighter.

"Then...we go save Dan."

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	7. Chapter 7: Blackmail

A special thanks to Guest 2019, Wandering-Reader, AShrew74, Skydriane, and another guest for all of their reviews! This chapter is for you guys! ^_^ More character development in this chapter. We haven't reached the woods yet, I'm afraid. That will come in chapter 8. I've dedicated that whole chapter to their escapade through the creepy forest. Five more reviews and I'll get the next chapter out in a jiffy!

Disclaimer: Not mine. Just fan-fiction.

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**Chapter 7: Blackmail**

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_Well, that sure was an intense meeting,_ Sarah opens the blue metal doors to enter into the high school. Walking along the industrialized carpet, she follows her known path to her locker. Her hands and fingers are trembling and she takes a steadying breath to try and calm them down. They were about to go into the woods after _10 years. TEN._ If that wasn't nerve wracking enough…they were looking for Dan who may or may not be with the Goblin King.

She opens her locker, grabs her bag and shuts it with a loud CLANK. The empty hallways of the school are brightly lit, but that doesn't ease the uneasy feeling in Sarah's stomach. This had to be a trap. Were they doing the right thing? _Maybe this isn't such a…_

Turning the corner, she suddenly comes across Britney, Cody, Jocelyn, and…._Stacey__!?..._on the other side of the hall, surrounding a cornered Emily.

_Great. Like tonight wasn't bad enough... _Sarah's eyes narrow. Her anxiety turns and begins to focus it's energy on fueling a new emotion: Anger.

Britney's annoyed voice carries to Sarah from the other end of the hallway, "Okay, but seriously? This stalker things is getting a little old."

"That's not what I…" Emily tries before Cody cuts her off...

"Come on, I think her little love note was kinda sweet!" He holds up a piece of notebook paper, his mocking voice echoing in the empty hall, "_I don't understand what I did to make you hate me. Where's the kind, sweet girl who braided my hair for the middle school dance?_" He smirks evilly down at her.

Jocelyn laughs, "Aw_w_w_w_w_w_w! Is that true, Brit Brit? Were you and the widdle nerdy best fwends?"

Stacey folds her arms and glares at them, "Real mature, guys."

Britney snatches the letter from Cody, tearing it in the process. She rounds on Emily, her face red with fury, "Guess you didn't get the message this morning, so let me spell it out for you; This sad little crush of yours was funny for a while. But now? It's starting to get on my nerves."

Emily looks smaller than usual, "I'm s-sorry… I just thought… I just wanted to…"

"Britney, let's just go. I'm sure she—" Stacey reaches out.

"_I'm not done talking."_ Britney turns and snaps at her. Stacey shuts up and looks down at her shoes. Britney rounds on Emily again, "Whatever creepy daydreams you´re having about me, you're going to throw them out the window. Because to me, you're never going to be anything other than a pathetic, basement-dwelling—"

"Hey! That's _enough_." Sarah has finally made it over to them. She clenches her fists, ready to defend her friend, "Leave her alone."

Britney stops mid-sentence. She turns, her snarl turning into a sneer as she looks Sarah up and down. "Oh _good_, Sarah the 'White Knight' is here to save poor Emily."

Sarah glances over at Stacey bitterly, who is standing silently nearby. She could forgive Stacey for being too afraid to go face Jareth. She could forgive that, because she wished that option was available to her as well. But _this?_ How could she just _stand there_ while her childhood friend is getting torn apart by the wolves?

Stacey looks defeated and doesn't say anything, avoiding eye contact with Sarah. Sarah's eyes flash angrily and she's about to unleash all her disappointment of Stacey's pathetic desire to be in the 'popular group' in front of everyone. But… she hesitates at the expression on Stacey's face. She looks almost more fragile than Emily does.

Sarah decides at the last moment to deal with Stacey's betrayal another time and turns to face Britney head-on who, just so happens, looks as pissed as Sarah feels.

"High school's hard enough without you and your pet vultures preying on everyone!", Sarah steps up to her, unafraid.

Britney hesitates in the full heat of Sarah's attention. Brittney was a very pretty girl. Her straight chocolate hair, smooth and shiny, gleamed from all the beauty products she used on it. She's changed from her cheerleader outfit into a black leather jacket, with a soft pink shirt underneath. Expensive blue jeans for the first day of school, with stylish boots to complete the ensemble.

Britney wasn't from here, originally. She was from Boston, exiled to now live with her aunt here in the boonies of New York. Family problems, Sarah would hazard a guess. Her aunt was one of the wealthiest people here in Westchester. The only one in town with a backyard patio and pool behind her beautiful house. So it wasn't as if Britney was impoverished. She had shown up a little after Jessica had died, and was here while the group slowly began to drift away from each other. Emily, though, became her friend somehow. Britney seemed to not be satisfied with the sweet girl's friendship, however, as she now treated her like the mud on her shoe.

Jocelyn steps in when Britney doesn't say anything. She smirks, "It's a 'dog-eat-dog' world, Sarah."

"Good thing we're not all _dogs_ like you, then." Sarah doesn't spare a glance for Jocelyn.

That wipes the smirk off Jocelyn's face. She scowls, "Did you just call me a bit—"

"Sarah… you don't have to do this. Just go." Emily's eyes shine with unshed tears.

Britney barks a laugh, half-turning to glance at Emily, "For once we agree on something. I think I've had enough of Sarah's sass for one day. Cody?"

Cody steps forward, pounding his hand with his fist, "C'mere, I wanna show you this really cool thing I found in the cafeteria dumpster..." He grins wickedly.

Sarah can't help but gulp.

Suddenly, Stacey steps in, "No, I've got this guys." She turns on Sarah angrily, grabbing her firmly by the elbow, and steering her away from the scene.

"Wow! Look at Stace, taking initiative!" Cody says proudly, raising his eyebrows. He's clearly impressed by Stacey's grip.

Britney smirks and tosses her silky smooth hair, "Works for me. We're still shopping on Saturday, right? I saw the _cutest_ sweater at J&N the other day."

Stacey's face falls and she turns away to hide behind her curtain of long blonde hair, "Yeah… I'll call you." She murmurs.

Just before Stacey drags Sarah out the door, Sarah glances back to see Emily vanish around the corner, tears streaming down her face.

The fresh wind hits their face as they find themselves back outside the front doors. The fountain gurgles in the distance where they had all been earlier, lights illuminating the jumping water.

Stacey finally lets go of Sarah's arm and Sarah turns to glare at her, "_Ow_. How are your hands so frikkin' strong?"

Stacey glares back, not missing a beat. "Ten years of gymnastics."

"Gymnastics, huh?" Sarah steps back and looks her up and down, not even trying to hide how repulsed she is by this girl she once called 'friend'.

Sarah lets her have it, "Guess that explains how you're flexible enough to walk with your head up your own BUTT."

"_Excuse _me? What's that supposed to mean?" Stacey asks, affronted.

_Is this girl a complete idiot like them now? _"Open your eyes! Britney and her goons are just a bunch of malicious jerks. They're not your friends!" Sarah yells.

"You think I don't know that_?!"_ Stacey yells back, throwing up her hands, exasperated. "You think…" And Stacey's face suddenly crumbles, looking desperate, "…that I _want _to be Britney's sidekick? You think I don't know she's literally the worst person on the planet?" Stacey's voice breaks.

Sarah stops. She's so confused. She looks at Stacey, who looks like she's carrying a heavy burden on her shoulders. So she hesitantly asks, "Then why…"

Thinking back to the pep rally, she remembers Stacey's flawless tumbling pass… and how she tripped right after looking at Britney.

"Stacey, is Britney... _threatening_ you?" Sarah asks, watching Stacey's face carefully. It would make a lot more sense if she was.

Stacey freezes, staring wide-eyed at Sarah like a deer caught in the middle of the road before a car smashes it into bits and pieces. Stacey nervously glances back over her shoulder, looking for something. Or someone.

Sarah reaches out her hand to touch her arm, "Stace, you can trust me. Whatever it is… I just want to help."

Stacey had become Sarah's friend even before Emily. They met in 2nd grade in art class when they had been paired together for a project. Stacey and Sarah had NOT gotten along at first. They both were similar in personalities, which translates to being hard-headed and competitive. Both were, very opinionated young girls, and the 'leader' in their minds and as such, they thought they were always right.

Stacey had gotten frustrated with Sarah, who refused to follow her lead in coming up with the school project and had swiped Sarah's arm with her green paintbrush in frustration. Sarah, not willing to back down from a challenge, quickly took a swipe at her face with her purple paintbrush to 'get even'. Soon, the teacher was breaking up a paint fight between the two girls who were _covered_, clothes, hair, and especially face with green and purple paint. They were sent to the principal's office, who was busy somewhere else. So, they were put in a large conference room with an enormous, stern-looking oval table and lots of comfy business chairs. They were left with the strict instruction NOT to talk to one another.

No one stayed to watch them however, and they they sat there in that empty conference room, covered in paint from head-to-toe, glaring at each other from opposite ends of the room. Then, somehow….in a strange turn of events, someone had started giggling. Which, in turn, made the other start giggling. Soon, the two kids were in a giggling competition and by the time the principal got to them, they were both sitting right next to each other, giggling and poking the different paint marks they had put on each other's faces and bodies.

Their parents had been called, since they couldn't go back to class with paint on their clothes. When their parents arrived, they received a small scolding (which neither one remembers), but no punishment was given since it just seemed like innocent fun. They were good friends after that, and Stacey had been included in Sarah's group which included her, Jessica, Taylor, and Dan. They were soon after joined by Emily, then Luke, and finally by MJ and Sean.

Stacey turns to Sarah, and she really looks at her. Sarah can see shadows underneath her blue eyes that concealer can't quite erase.

Stacey sighs and says, "Britney's…. blackmailing me."

"What?!" Sarah stares at her in disbelief. _Oh, I'm going to make that girl pay…as soon as Cody isn't around, that it. _"Blackmail? So, the fall at the pep rally…?"

Stacey sighs again, "Rule one… Never outshine Britney on the cheer squad." She turns angry and huffs, "Closely followed by rule two, Never talk back to Britney, and rule three, buy Britney all the tacky-ass sweaters and ankle booties she wants."

_"_Jeez, Stacey…what does Britney have on you?" _It must be big_.

"Oh, just a video that could totally tank my mom's re-election campaign for City Mayor, and earn me the title of 'worst daughter in the entire universe'." Her pretty eyes turn bright with unshed tears.

She sees Sarah's confused expression and explains further, "Britney had a party over the summer. It wasn't really my scene, but I felt like I had to make an appearance, you know?"

"Ah yes, the perils of being popular." Sarah nods sagely and then grins at her with an uplifted eyebrow, trying to lighten the mood.

Stacey doesn't grin back. "The worst part is… I actually had a great night. It was the first time in years that I'd just let go and had _fun_. But then…"

Stacey sighs, and rubs her temples. "Whatever. You probably don't care about my dumb mistakes."

"Stace, you can tell me anything." Sarah tells her sincerely. "I mean, no pressure, but telling someone might make you feel better." She feels bad for judging Stacey so harshly earlier. She had noticed something odd going on with her, but had no idea… "And I promise I won't judge you."

Stacey stares at her, searching and suspicious. Sarah waits.

Finally she sighs, "…Okay. But if you tell _anyone_…"

"I won't. Pinkie swear." Sarah holds out her pinkie to her. Stacey looks at it in surprise but she slowly breaks into a smile, remembering when they were kids, and wraps her pinkie around Sarah's.

"Haha, Okay." She shakes her head, smiling, and begins, "It was like, Mid-June, and Britney's aunt was out of town and I guess she let her throw a private party since it was her birthday. I was planning on just mingling half an hour. Do a little dancing for 30 mins, say hi to the birthday girl, and then be back before 11:30. Piece of cake, right? My mom was at a fundraiser/benefit/conference _thing_ until late, so she wouldn't notice. I saw Ben and so I go over to say hi. We flirted a bit… " Stacey blushes, and then keeps going, "Anyways, I went looking for Britney to say happy birthday, and I find her surrounded by Jocelyn and some other girls, _badmouthing _the squad members behind their backs! She was saying how she's better than all of them."

Stacey glowers and shakes her head, " I called her out on it. She didn't know I was behind her, obviously, and she got embarrassed for being caught. She tried saying it was all just a joke and apologized. Then she buttered up to me and it worked, I'm sad to say." Stacey shakes her head, and huffs, annoyed with herself.

"I lost track of time. It was 12:00 when I realized I had to get home. On my way out, I saw Ben with Cody, and I went over to say good-bye, when I suddenly hear him say my name, talking about me. I listen in…" Stacey sighs, and rubs her head again. Sarah waits patiently.

She continues, "I heard him telling Cody that he thought I was hot... but that he would never consider dating me because I'm _boring_! And that I didn't know how to let go and have _fun_, whatever that means." She starts blinking rapidly, to stop her eyes from tearing up. "It hurt, so I turned around and tried to go out the backdoor so they wouldn't see me. Britney saw me though. She saw I was upset and made me go to her room with her to have a 'girl talk'. I didn't tell her at first. But she's an incredible actress, as you already know," she nods to Sarah, alluding to Sarah and Britney's never-ending competition in the school plays. Brittney was probably overjoyed that Sarah didn't act last year, and won't this year either.

"She made me think that she cared about why I was upset, and that she wanted to help me. I eventually broke down and asked her if people thought I was boring and she said 'You didn't hear this from me…but MISS PERFECT is one of the nicer nicknames you've picked up'. Knowing what I know now though, I'm sure Brittney was one of those people who talked bad about me behind my back. She talks bad about _everyone_ behind their back."

Sarah didn't ask if Brittney talks about her. It was obvious that she does. Brittney hated Sarah since she had lost the part of Marian in their high school play "the Music Man" and Bell from "Beauty and the Beast" from the year before that. Brittney _was_ a great actress though and had done a tremendous job in last year's production of 'Into the Woods' as Cinderella. But Sarah hadn't tried out for that play.

"Anyways," Stacey continues, "She complimented me on my 'perfect life' and told me to not care about what others think….and so I- I unleashed the monster. I told her how I hated my life, and how it all is fake."

Stacy's eyes fill with tears, and Sarah listens in utter surprise, "My parents_ hate_ each other, Sarah. HATE! They're both having affairs and they don't even _try_ to hide it from me! Every night's a big screaming match between them… except for the nights they're screaming at _me_ for putting one toe out of line." Stacy starts crying, letting her head drop into her hands.

Sarah immediately puts her arms around her, and looks around, making sure that no one else is seeing this. It's dark outside, and they were some of the last people at school. No one is around…

"I'm so tired of having to be the Mayor's perfect daughter every freaking second of every freaking day, when she doesn't even care about me…" Stacey cries.

"I'm sorry Stace." Sarah murmurs, hugging her shoulders. "I didn't know your mom was that bad…"

"Nobody does!" She exclaims, wiping away her tears and trying not to smear her make-up,  
"If they did she'd be out of office, like, tomorrow." Stacey trails off, her cheeks flushing slightly as she looks down at the ground.

"So… then what happened?" Sarah prompts.

Stacey shrugs, "Britney comforted me. Made me feel better. The next morning, I woke up to a text from Britney."

Sarah gapes at her, "Don't tell me…"

"Yeah. She recorded the whole thing on her phone." Stacey nods.

Sarah explodes, "After you _confided_ in her!? That's just…HORRIBLE!"

Stacey shushes her, and they look around, making sure no one heard her. Stacey relaxes, and she seems calmer. Or maybe she's just tired from crying?

"It really is." Stacey nods again, and then smiles, "But… you were right. Telling someone about it feels good. I've been keeping that bottled up for _months_!"

"I'm glad to have helped!" Sarah frowns, "But…maybe Sean is right. Maybe if you told your parents what happened-"

"Sarah, are you insane?!" Stacey looks at her as if she was an idiot, "My dad would ground me for 20 years, and then Mom would _murder_ me!"

Sarah wants to roll her eyes and tell her it not that bad. But she had just gained her trust. She has to tread carefully… "Yeah, but Stacey! This is your Senior year! Your dad can't ground you for 20 years because in one year you'll be an adult." She tries to joke, and prove her point at the same time.

Stacey isn't amused and shakes her head, "If she found out I endangered her campaign? She wouldn't let me leave the house for the _rest of the year_. And if that video **actually **ever gets out…"

"But…maybe she can help you get it back!" Sarah tries again. "She's the MAYOR! Can't she get the police force or, I dunno, the Swat Team over to Britney's house and get the phone from her before she sends it?" _Seriously. There has to be something we can do._

Stacey shakes her head, "Britney probably doesn't have the video on JUST her phone though. She probably has a back-up on her computer. It's too risky." Stacey smiles sadly, "Besides, the police would need a good reason to break in and confiscate a teenager's phone, and then the truth would have to come out. I can see the headlines now…_'Mayor's daughter tells all! Green's marriage, family, and political career a sham'_!"

Sarah gets a little angry at her. _Where is the headstrong girl I used to know?_ "So you're just gonna sit back and let Britney take everything from you? That's not like you, Stacey."

"I'll…I'll figure something out. I just don't know what yet."

Stacey trails off as a door opens nearby. Emily emerges from the school, her face wet with tears, and starts walking toward the parking lot. Sarah can hear her sniffle.

"I'd better go after her…" Sarah sighs, starting walking toward her. But Stacey puts her hand on Sarah's shoulder, holding her back.

"No… let me. I've stood by too many times when I should've been helping her. I helped you with Cody and the dumpster, now I need to fix this." She gives Sarah a smile and hurries after Emily. She seems braver. Sarah can faintly hear their conversation…

"Emily! Wait up!"

"What, did Britney send you to y-yell at me some more?"

"No! I…Emily, I'm so sorry. I… I never wanted you to get hurt. I hate the way those guys treat you."

"They why didn't you say something?"

"It's complicated…and totally my own fault. If… if you want, maybe I could buy a cinnamon hot cocoa and explain it all. But, you know, I'll also totally understand if you want to just tell me to go to hell. You deserve better friends than me."

Emily stares at Stacey for a long minute. She looks behind Stacey and sees Sarah standing far back. Sarah gives her a thumbs up encouragingly. Emily looks back at Stacey and Sarah holds her breath to hear her answer.

"…You remembered."

"Huh?"

"You remembered that cinnamon hot cocoa was my favorite when we were kids."

Sarah can't see their expressions, but she can see them wrap their arms around each other in a hug and then walk side-by-side towards Stacey's car.

"Good job, Stace." Sarah smiles softly.

Hitching her bag a little higher on her shoulder, Sarah turns away and continues down the road toward town to meet the group at the hardware store.

Sarah didn't plan on facing the Goblin King empty handed. They were going to need weapons.

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THANKS for the reviews! This update is because of you! Reviews are amazing, like any writer here on fanfiction will tell you. ^_^ Next chapter will be posted after another 5 reviews.


	8. Chapter 8: The Calm Before The Storm

I really didn't want to write this chapter, because I'm as anxious as everyone else for them to get into the woods. But if I left this out, it would have felt lacking in the rest of the story. So, necessary evil. Thanks for the reviews! You guys rock!

Disclaimer: "The Labyrinth" and "Choices" universes are not mine. I just play in them.

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**Chapter 8: The Calm Before the Storm**

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Sarah turned onto Main Street's sidewalk, a few minutes after leaving Stacey and Emily. Brightly colored neon and electric lights glowed on her face but she paid them no attention. There were a few people still out, since it was only 7:00 but things were quieter than they've been all summer, and parents obviously were reinforcing the school-night curfew to prepare for tomorrow. Sarah sighed and thought about her own parents and Toby. They were supposed to be coming back in a week. They hadn't wanted to leave her alone for her first week of school, but her great aunt Connolly's inheritance was really a big deal. And with her dad being a lawyer, he had to try and fix things. It was a testament to how much they trusted her level of maturity when they reluctantly allowed her to stay for the two months they were going to be away. Now, all Sarah wanted was them to be home with her during this scary time. She wanted to be able to go home to a warm house with dinner on the table.

She spotted the bright sign 'Gunther's Hardware' and walked over to where everyone was waiting outside.

"Hey guys, sorry I'm late." She nodded and smiled sheepishly.

MJ held up her black nail-polished finger in a "wait a moment" signal and Sarah realized she had her cellphone pressed to her ear.

Taylor frowned over at her, "What took you so long?"

Sean spoke up as well, glancing at Taylor, "Yeah, we were getting worried."

"Sorry," Sarah apologized again, "I had to handle some Britney drama, but I got out of there." She rolled her eyes, but quickly changed the conversation, not wanting to get Stacey and Emily involved, "Anyways, I was thinking we should gear up before we go. That weird demon-fae creature that came after me this morning could still be out there...plus who knows what else."

Taylor nodded in agreement, "Good point...if the Goblin King is back, we need to be ready for anything."

MJ's voice carries over to the gang from where she was standing… "Yeah Dad, I just wanted to let you know I'm going to be late. Sarah and I are working on a project together and it's really..." MJ listened for a minute then turned angry, "No, Dad. And that was _one_ time, by the way. Ugh, here, I'll prove it."

MJ shoved the phone into Sarah's hand. Sarah faltered for a moment, and then slowly brought the phone up to her ear.

"Uh, Hi, Mr. Adams...Yeah, it has been a long time….Yeah, we just have a school project…..yeah, giving us projects on our first day of school, I don't know what they're thinking either…...I'm glad we're talking again too...Okay...Thanks Mr. Adams, she won't be home too late...Bye Mr. Adams."

She hung up and handed the cellphone back to MJ.

MJ grinned, "Sick. One call from you and I get to ditch curfew? I don't know what to do with all this power."

Sarah chuckled, "Maybe next time we can actually do something _fun_."

"Uhhhh, more fun than going into a demon infested forest? I don't think so." MJ's black goth make-up was even blacker at night, and her black painted lips pulled up into a happy smirk. Sarah rolled her eyes. _MJ is obviously in a good mood._

"So... if that whole weird exchange is over, can we go buy some hardware now?" Taylor crossed his arms, looking unimpressed at the group.

"Yeah, better be ready to defend ourselves from all those spooooooky bushes." Sean teased. He still wasn't taking the Goblin problem seriously.

"Very funny." Taylor glared at him. Sean just held up his hands and shook his head, smiling.

Inside, everyone wandered off to browse the assorted home décor and impovement aisles, but Sarah stopped right in her tracks, staring at the guy behind the white cashier's counter.

"You?!" She said, surprised.

The guy looked up from his phone, smiling in recognition. "Well if it isn't the blast from the past! How's it going…_Sarah_?"

It was the guy with the black Camaro she saw this morning. The hot guy. He was clearly enjoying her shocked reaction, and set his phone aside.

She raised her eyebrows suspiciously, but smiled, "Well, it sounds like_ someone_ found out how we know each other. Gonna let me in on the secret?"

"I could, but it's so much _fun_ to mess with you." He chuckled and leaned towards her from behind the counter top, covered in assorted snickers bars, m&ms and other assorted sweets and chocolates to tempt the customer checking-out. "Here, I'll give you a hint. I figured out who you were when _my sister _mentioned that you_ helped her out at the pep rally this morning._"

"At the pep rally...OH!" Sarah's eyes widened comically, "You must be Stacey's brother! You're Connor Green!"

Sarah relaxed instantly, remembering him. _Gosh. He grew to be a cutie. But Stacey's one of the prettiest girls in school, so it makes sense. _Looking at him, she recognized the blonde hair and blues eyes he shared with his sister. He used to be 'too cool' to hang out with Sarah's group since he was a couple of years older. But every once in a while when he had nothing better to do, he had followed them around with a video camera, most likely waiting for them to do something dumb like fall into the pond or light something on fire so he could send it in to 'America's Funniest Home Videos'.

"Right in one! You always were the smarty-pants of that group." He joked.

"How have I never seen you here before?" Sarah leaned against the counter too, trying to go for a 'curious-but-not-too-curious' look.

"Been traveling a lot since high school. Spent this past summer crashing at my friend's place in Oakland." He explained, "Figured I should be around for 'Campaign Season' though. Make sure mom and Stacey don't murder each other."

"That's thoughtful of you." Sarah started up to play with her hair but she stopped again before he could notice. _Are you...in town for long? Are you single? _"Umm, are you happy to be home?" She settled for asking nonchalantly.

"Sure, it's cool to see Stacey and catch up with old friends. Can't say I've missed my mom and dad's lectures though." He shrugged, "Every time I go over there it's 'apply for college' this and 'get a haircut' that."

"Sounds terrible." Sarah said sympathetically, thinking back to what Stacey revealed to her about her parents. "I dunno…I think your hair looks fine." It went to his shoulders and was a dirty blonde color, a little lighter than Stacey's but not very. It looked soft to touch. _Reminds me a lot of Jareth's hai..._  
Sarah flinched. Hard. Conner noticed that.

"Hey, you okay?" He asked, concerned. "Are you hurt?"

_Probably wondering what the heck is wrong with this mental chick. _Sarah tried to laugh it off and said, "Hmm? Oh nothing! I just, uh, feel like there's a piece of glass in my shoe! I better go get that taken care of."

Sarah hopped away from Conner on one foot, down an aisle of assorted metal screwdrivers and wrenches. Once she was around the corner, she pretended to take off her shoe.

_Real smooth Sarah._ She slapped her hand across her forehead, embarrassed. She wasn't sure which was worse…. her dorky/awkward blunder, or the traitorous thought of _Jareth's hair_ being attractive_._ _Well it IS. No, stop! I'm going to chalk it up to not getting enough sleep last night night and then—_

"Hey Sarah! Ya think I can lift this over my head?"

Sarah turned, lost for a moment, and then saw who was talking. Sean held a large white 90lb bag of dry cement in his arms. Sarah scoffed, smiling. Typical Sean. He and Dan had always been the ones wrestling in the dirt in competitions of strength. Dan usually won though.

"I think you can totally lift that." Sarah shook her head in amusement. He used to be thin and lanky, but it was apparent that he had gained quite a bit of muscle underneath his hoodie. He had had to push himself to overcome the racism. Some of the girls even seemed to notice him now. "C'mon Sean Kang, show me what you've got!" She folded his arms, goading him. She wanted to use this as a distraction and completely forget about her odd social blunder with Conner. _I don't want to think about Jareth's hair. Or Jareth. At all. Ever. STOP!_

Straining, Sean hoisted the bag up to his chest, and then pushed it up over his head, breathing heavy. "Woooooooo!" He breathed out, ecstatic. Sarah clapped and whistled as he pressed it a couple more times before setting it down on the floor.

"Daaaang, you're a beast! You should lift me! Be careful not to wear yourself out before we get to the woods." She looked around at the different garden tools on the shelves. Bricks, cements bags, mulch bags, wood chips, hoses…_.what do you arm yourself with against a Goblin King? Maybe we should have gone and asked 'Pritch the Witch'..._

"Pfft, I'm just getting warmed up." Sean brushed an imaginary chip off his shoulder.

Sarah grinned and headed down another aisle full of tape measures, nails, and hammers, as he started doing arm curls with a coiled-up garden hose. She found Taylor's slouched figure browsing the aisles at the back of the store.

"Finding anything useful?" She asked, coming up beside him.

"Not unless you wanna go after the Goblin King with a bunch of duct tape and twine." He muttered, not looking at her.

An image of the Gobin King bound with duct tape and twine at her feet was strangely erotic. She flinched again, but luckily, Taylor didn't see. She corrected her mind_: it's not erotic, it's NEUROTIC. And don't forget it!_

She turned her head and watched Taylor for a moment, studying him. Finally, she confided, "I don't get how you can be so calm. I'm on the verge of a breakdown over here." She scoffed self-deprecatingly.

"Hmmm. Calm isn't the word I would use to describe it...I just...I have to know." He glanced over at Sarah and she saw what he had been trying to hide before. His eyes were a little watery.

Ah, no. More tears? Emily, Stacey, now Taylor? This seemed to be a super emotional day for everyone.

He sighed, rubbing his face. "This has been haunting me for years Sarah. What we did...what HE did."

Sarah got hit by a sudden, vibrant memory. A little red-haired girl in a blue dress, giggling as she ran through the trees... "Come on Sarah!" She called to her happily, beckoning.

Sarah shook herself, as Jess's laughter echoed in the back of her mind. "Yeah...me too..." She said quietly, turning to look at the lightbulbs to hide her face while it was his turn to stare curiously at her.

"Mom blames me, you know...for Jess. And for my Dad leaving right after." He mentioned casually, still watching her.

Sarah turned back to him, feeling sick, "I'm sure that's not true."

"It is. She's said it to my face. Regularly, actually." He stated.

This whole day was one tearful encounter after another. And it was only the first day of school. Sarah never remembered having a more crappy/emotional first-day at school in her entire life. "Taylor. I'm so sorry."

Taylor shrugged. Then after a pause said, " The worst part is that...and this sounds as lame as hell," he scoffed and rolled his eyes to stare at the ceiling, "but the day I lost my sister, I lost my WHOLE family. My mom, you guys...everyone."

Sarah didn't know what to say to ease his pain except... "If it's anyone's fault, then it'd be mine. I didn't heed the warnings. I didn't know what he was."

She never should have introduced her friends to him, never should have gone Underground with him. If Sarah could go back in time, she would have made it so that she never went through that stone doorway in the first-place. Sarah's eyes start to get watery too. This was probably why they had all broken up, she realized. There was a lot of regret, and everyone blamed themselves in a way for not doing enough to stop it. And now the Goblin King was back...and they were all together again.

"Don't." Taylor looked a little angry, and waved the comment away. "We all were deceived by him." He looked like he wished he could say more, but didn't.

Any strange feelings that had come up tonight about blonde hair and duct tape went cold as Sarah made herself remember what Jareth was and what he had done. How could she feel anything other than hatred for such a heartless monster? It made her feel guilty as hell that even though she KNEW all those things...she felt…. other things than hatred when Jareth was involved. But she tried to hate him. She DID hate him. She had to make herself believe that.

Her mother had always said, "The heart wants what the heart wants, Sarah." and Sarah grew up believing that love was a destiny; An uncontrollable connection between two people. That love was not under conscious, cognitive control. You cannot simply decide to fall in love with somebody, no matter how suitable. Similarly, you cannot just decide to stop loving somebody, no matter how hopeless the situation was. This was all according to her mother, however. And it was something Sarah wasn't sure how she felt about. If her mom was correct, then somehow, someway, she had been destined to...be attracted to...a cold, heartless killer. But then her mom died when she was 11. Before she knew it, her dad had remarried (3 years later) and another kid was on it's way. She and Toby were fine with each other, it was nice having another sibling and they had hit it off from the start. But, while Irene wasn't horrible, it had been difficult for Sarah to come to terms with the fact that her dad moved on and found someone other than her mom, the woman he had adored. Even now, she would look at her step-mother and father together and it seemed that her mom was right.

The heart wants what the heart wants.

The two of them continued to browse the aisle in silence, lost in their solemn thoughts until MJ came around the corner, swinging a baseball bat with her black nail-polished fingers, and a huge black smile.

"Here Sarah! Happy Hanukkah." With a grandiose bow, causing her maroon and blond dreadlocks to all fall forward, MJ bestowed the wooden bat to her.

Sarah grips the smooth wood with her fingers smiling widely. "Niiiiice! It's perfect!" She waved it around, testing it out. "Now if only there was some iron to wrap around this bad boy, that fae won't know what hit him!"

MJ had been one step ahead of her, and held up a coil of barbed wire. Her black-painted lips pulled up into a "cat-ate-the-canary" grin on her face.

"MJ, you're a savage!" Sarah gushed, "This is_ perfect_!" …then she looked at the price tag. "Ummm, it's not exactly in the budget." She sighed, only having brought 20$ from home.

"Oh poo. You would have looked so badass carrying a bat wrapped in barbwire through the woods with you." MJ pouted.

"Ha! Actually, that seems more like something YOU'D be carrying, MJ." Sarah grinned again and swung the bat around for good measure, imagining the scene.

Taylor came back, hefting a heavy black flashlight. "How about this? It's going to be dark out there and I don't want anything sneaking up on us." He waved the flashlight around, "Plus, it can double as a club!"

The group walked to the front of the store and Sean stopped his workout to join the rest of the gang. Both he and MJ didn't buy anything as they hadn't bothered to bring any money to school with them. No one had imagined that their "after-school-activities" would consist of a Search-And-Rescue in the woods for an old friend. Luckily, Sarah's parents left her with some cash so she was able to at least get her bat.

Connor looked up at Sarah as he rung them up the bat and flashlight and smiled, "Find everything you need? How's your foot?" He looked down at her shoes.

"Oh, it's fine. It wasn't glass. It was just a sticker…from a bush. From outside, in the bushes, you know?" It took all of Sarah's willpower not to slap herself in front of him just to stop herself from talking. MJ, Taylor, and Sean all looked at her oddly.

He nodded understandingly, seemingly completely unaware of anything odd she might have been saying. He smiled at her. "Alright then. See you around, Sarah."

Sarah stared at him and felt herself smile. _He wants to see me around? _"Definitely." Sarah blushed and tucked her hair behind her ear. She turned away and, steeling herself, stepped out into the cool night after her friends...

The group navigated through quiet back roads out of town until they found themselves standing at the edge of the forest. The full moon offered as much light as it possibly could to aid the brave teenagers. But, more often than not, it was hidden behind the wispy clouds that cast undulating shadows down onto the tree branches and the forest floor. The vivid green hues from earlier in the day had all but disappeared, now emitting varying shades of dark teal. The group hesitated for a moment, listening.

The crickets offered soothing tones of chirps and whurrs. An owl hooted in the distance. There was no spooky breeze, and the trees were calm. But the group didn't feel soothed. It was almost like they expected to hear creepy growls, howls, and snapping twigs of monsters and wraiths in order to scare them away. But the forest didn't demonstrate any clichéd Halloween themes. It appeared calm and content. Deceptively quiet. Like before a storm.

Sarah gave her bat a few experimental swings, took a deep breath with a shaky exhale and declared, "OK. I'm ready." She gulped. She didn't feel brave _or _ready. In fact, she was super hyper, jumpy, and to be honest felt like she was going to throw up at any second.

Jareth was in there. Somewhere. And before the night was over, who knew what they would face?

Sarah didn't know what her face looked like, but Sean noticed and grinned, "C'mon Sarah, lighten up. Let me know if you need someone to hold your hand." He winked at her, teasingly, then strode forward. His steps barely faltered as he crossed into the undergrowth. Swallowed up by the dense trees.

The group waited for a moment. Tense.

When Sean didn't scream in horrible pain or agony, MJ turned casually to the group. "Welp! Here's hoping we don't get eaten, possessed, or maimed." She snapped her gum in her mouth she had got from the gumball machine at the hardware store for 20 cents, which, unfortunately, seemed to be the only thing she had bought. Hands in her pocket, MJ walked unhurriedly forward. The trees swallowed her up too.

"You coming or what?" Taylor looked over at Sarah who was standing there, stock still. He then headed into the woods, not waiting for a response.

Sarah found herself suddenly and completely alone, the air silent except for the faint footsteps of her friends parading through the forest in front of her.

"Sarah Williams, what are you getting yourself into?" She muttered lowly to herself...and then stepped into the woods.

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Housten, we are in the woods, I repeat, we are in the woods, over.

Hooray! This chapter is different than the others. I changed the words from being in the present tense, such as "she looks" to the past tense "she looked". Do you like it? If you do, I'll go back and change the grammar tense so it's easier for people to read. Be safe! Don't go into any woods in the middle of the night (unless you have a flashlight). Not a good idea, lol.


	9. Chapter 9: What Are You Afraid Of?

Alright. Let's get our hands dirty. We're in the woods. As everyone knows, the Labyrinth isn't mine, and neither is the "Choices" Universe. I just play with them.

Enjoy the carnage!

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**Chapter 9: What are you afraid of?**

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"At least we can see where we're going..." Sarah said gratefully, trailing behind Taylor whose bright beam illuminated the path ahead.

Their eyes dart around see where they're going and to watch their step over the uneven forest floor. Occasionally, Taylor would point the flashlight off the trail in an attempt to look for Dan.

"Well, this place is as creepy as ever." He muttered, stepping over twisted roots.

"I don't know." Sarah smiled wistfully, "It feels almost like...home."  
She was surprised to find that, even though she was apprehensive about the whole situation, she had sincerely missed the woods. Sarah had played in the woods almost every day as a child, and walking through it felt bittersweet as it reminded her of happier times.

The forest was enormous, and they were finally struck with the realization that it was HUGE undertaking they had just accepted. Where should they look for him? How on earth were four teenagers going to comb this place to find him? Would they really have to go back to the ruins to start their search? They started calling his name as they walked along.

As Sarah stopped to try and get her bearings, a cool breeze brushed past, carrying a faint but familiar whistling sound...

"Huh?" Sarah breathed out in surprise, turning towards the quiet noise. She began to follow it off the trail.

"Sarah? Where you going?" Taylor turned and asked her suspiciously.

"Don't you hear that? It's coming from this way..." She continued walking and Taylor silently followed her. MJ and Sean noticed that they were heading off the path and began making their way back toward them.

The sound drew Sarah to the base of an old twisted tree, where something hung from the lowest branch, glittering in an eerie moon beam. Sarah stopped as if she had been stabbed. She slowly reached forward with trembling hands to grasp the hanging object. It was Jess's whistle.  
Taylor appeared at her side and shined the flashlight as they both stared down at the whistle in her hand. It's tarnished surface gleamed mockingly in the light.

Taylor barely breathed, "Is that..."

"I thought it was lost." Sarah's voice sounded strange to her ears.

She turned the whistle over as MJ and Sean caught up to them. "Woah, where'd that come from?" Sean pointed at the whistle, worriedly recognizing it.

"Weird." MJ noted, popping her gum again.

"It was her birthday present..." Sarah began to murmur to herself, "If she ever got into any trouble all she'd have to do was blow it, and...and..." She stopped short, tears welling up in her eyes. She held the whistle to her chest. _Oh, Jess..._

Luckily, Taylor interrupted, giving her time to compose herself. "You hear that?" Taylor asked, spooked.

Everyone stopped speaking and Sarah closed her eyes. She heard the wind moving through the trees...and something else moving too.

"Something's coming." MJ said, "I don't know what it is but...be ready."

Sarah looked at the whistle and grasped it firmly in my hand. Suddenly, she jumped! Nearly crying out as Taylor suddenly grabbed her forearm in a tight grip!

"Don't ...move..." He whispered.

Slowly, hardly daring to breath, she inched her head to follow Taylor's petrified gaze.

Twenty feet down the path, transfixed in the beam of Taylor's flashlight, stood a sinister creature with a wide smile of sharp teeth. It's eyes gleamed in the flashlight like a cat's or dog's would. It's bright red fur was puffy in some places, but its stomach, legs and arms were hairless and bone thin, making it almost look like an emancipated lion-ish man. Sarah recognized the being immediately and felt like someone injected ice in her veins. Jareth sent THAT?

"That's not a fae, is it?" Taylor whispered, never taking his eyes off of the thing.

She shook her head slowly, still not feeling the air enter her lungs. At the movement of Sarah's head, the creature shifted it's body in jerky movements to the side, cocking its head at her, grinning wickedly with it's strange, wide snout. Eyes burning.

"It's a firey." Sarah whispered.

"Oh hell no, I did not sign up for this." Sean said, afraid. He backed away with his hands up before Sarah could tell him to stay put.

The creature grinned wider and then slowly advanced, cocking it's head back and forth, boney limbs jerking in odd angles, a gob of saliva dripped from it's jaws in the flashlight's gaze, yellow and sticky. Clicking and cackling sounds came from it's throat.

The whole group was frozen in terrible, horrible fear.

"Sarah, W-what do we do?" Taylor asked panicked, and began backing away as well.

The Firey cackled, and lunged towards them.

"RUN!" Panicked, Sarah grabbed both Sean and Taylor's coat arms and wheeled around. They all bolted into the trees, crashing through branches and undergrowth on either side of her.

Dodging around a fallen tree, Sarah gasped as another dark shape loomed up in front of them, blocking their path! The dark creature is revealed to be a second Firey once Taylor's light flashed onto it's red body. The second Firey's teeth glint and it raised it's boney arms and long fingers as if ready to snatch them.

"Aaaah!" Sarah screamed. She made a sharp left turn, and the Firey cackled. It fell in beside the first creature chasing the frightened teenagers.

"_Where are you goin' Sarah?" _the Firey at Sarah's right wheezes maliciously at her, almost causing the group to trip in fear at the sound of it's voice. Sean gasped, and started running harder.

Sean yelled in a high voice, "They **TALK**! WHY ARE THEY **TALKING**?!"

"Don't ask questions! Just run!" Sarah yelled, pumping her arms.

Taylor shouted from her left, "Sarah! We need to turn around! We're heading straight for the ruins!"

"Crap, you're right! Come on—" Sarah began running to the right but one of the Firey's surged forward, forcing her back onto the path!

"I think they're _HERDING_ us! They_ WANT_ us to go to the ruins!" Sarah panted, thinking of their options. They could go left, right, or straight...

Taylor caught on, "And they _don't_ want us to find Dan!" he panted angrily.

"We can't keep going this way! Who knows what'll happen if they drive us to the ruins?" MJ shrieked across to Sarah, scared now. _Finally a scared reaction from this girl! _Sarah thought, disgruntled.

Still running, She quickly glanced around. One creature trailed behind her, driving her forward, while the other stuck close to her right.

"Alright…On my signal we'll go…"

"_Come on, Sarah! Don't you want to play with us_?" the Firey behind laughed maliciously. That sent them into a cackling frenzy. Memories of the Underground and the first time she met the Firey's danced around in her head. They were obviously distracted with images of ripping her head off.

Sarah grit her teeth. "TURN _RIGHT_! NOW!"

Steeling herself, she made a sudden, hard turn to the right and dodged past the red furry creature. The others followed.

That surprised them. The Firey snapped at her with his snout, but missed! Covering her face, Sarah crashed through a thick wall of bushes…and found herself in a quiet, moonlit clearing. There was a flat tree stump in the very center of the clearing, almost as if designed this way on purpose...

Sarah doubled over and placed her hands on her knees, panting, as her friends skid to a stop next to her.

"Yo, we gotta keep moving. Those freaky dog things are right behind us!" Sean said, barely out of breath. Sarah stared up at him, breathing hard. _Must be nice being a basketball player. Gosh, I need to work out more…_

"We need to find Dan, fast. What if those things are after him too?" Taylor wheezed, looking around.

"Yeah, about that…" MJ said, staring straight ahead, eyes wide as she also huffed and puffed for breath.

Sarah followed her gaze…and saw a third Firey across the clearing, crouched over a still figure lying in the dirt.

"Oh my gosh…._Dan_?!" Sarah cried. Her already fast-beating heart did a double backflip.

"HEY! Get away from him!" Taylor shouted out to the furry beast, raising his flashlight in warning.

The creature let go of Dan's leg and lifted his head to grin at Sarah. He then turned back to Dan and hissed something to him, too low for the group to hear from across the clearing.

The group suddenly had to twist back and face the way they came as answering hisses and cackles from all around sounded through the forest. Suddenly the woods were full of burning amber eyes, hellish feathery fur, and glinting teeth…

Sarah's fist tightened around her baseball bat, which she just barely realized she still had with her. Thankfully she hadn't lost in their haste to get away.

"Get ready…we can't let them take Dan." Sarah grit through her teeth and raised the bat in warning to the Firey coming out of the woods. There were so many...

"This is not the way I thought today was going to go.." Sean said. He looked over at Sarah and grinned, cracking his knuckles and bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Sarah glared at him, "Seriously, Sean? This is not funny!"

"Hey, it beats homework." Sean shrugged.

"Heh, I guess so…?" Sarah's lips curled up unwillingly at the absurdity of their situation even though this was no laughing matter. She was glad they had agreed to come with them and it wasn't just her and Taylor. Surprisingly, She didn't feel so afraid anymore, having all these guys with her. "Be careful though." Sarah said, and turned back to face the oncoming hoard, "Don't let the Firey touch your head. And the best we can do is separate their body parts from each other…"

Taylor's knuckles whiten as he shifted his grip on his flashlight, his eyes wide. "I'm ready."

MJ stooped down to pull a long knife out of her boot.

Taylor did a double-take, mouth dropping open, "What the—where'd _that_ come from?!" It was almost comical, the look of surprise on his face.

"Given that knives at school are an expulsion-level offense...let's say 'the Hardware Store'. Mmmmkay?" She raised her eyes at him pointedly, then cracked her neck and eyed a Firey that was bouncing on a tree branch with malicious excitement.

Grateful that she didn't just bring bubble-gum, Sarah laughed, relieved. "Glad you came prepared!"

"Alright." Sarah faced the Firey in front of them and took a deep breath. "LET'S DO THIS!" She yelled.

At the sound of her battle-cry, the excited creatures sprang into action, closing in from all sides.

"AHAHAHAHAHA!" They laughed, shrieked, and cackled.

One charged straight at Sarah, laughing and snapping discolored fangs.

"Come and get it!" Sarah seethed. She wound up with her bat and…SMASH! The bat caved into the Firey's ribcage with a loud CRUNCH!

"SHREEEEEEE!" It squealed in pain!

Sarah's mouth dropped open but quickly turned to the next Firey heading for her, and did the same thing. She gave a surprised laugh, shocked that it was actually working.

A Firey who saw what she had been doing, looked even eviler as it hissed, it's feathery fur poofing out even more and shaking in fury. It reared up in front of her, jaws stretched open for a bite.

BASH! The bat smashed right into the creature's maw, it's head exploding off of it's body and flying into the undergrowth of the forest! The body of the creature acted bewildered without it's head and began to get on it's hands and knees, searching for it. Sarah wound up her bat again and sent the Firey's body sprawling into the other direction.

Sarah felt adrenaline rushing through her veins and let out a laugh. She got cocky. "Yeah! That'll teach you not to mess with—OOOF!" Another Firey slammed into her while she was distracted, knocking her to the ground!

_"We liked you a lot more when you was little."_ It growled at her. It's powerful jaws snapped and yawned just inches from her face as she strained to push it away with her bat! It's hands clawed at her shirt, tearing it a little. But oddly enough, it wasn't reaching for her head…?

"Little help here?!" Sarah shrieked to the group.

"Hey fluffy! Here comes the pain train!" Sean's voice came from above somewhere. The Firey turned toward Sean's voice, but was too late to stop him from grabbing it from behind.

Sean hoisted the Firey overhead, easier than he had done with the bag of dry cement and slammed it against a tree! Body parts flew everywhere. Legs, arms, eyeballs, head... they all fell to the ground in a twitching heap.

"Woo! Three points!" Sean whooped, offering Sarah a hand and easily pulled her up. "You good?"

"Better now!" Sarah shook her head, smiling. _What a rush!_

"We've got the monsters covered, see if you can get to Dan!" Sean said, as he turned back to help Taylor. Two Firey were dancing around him and he was swinging his flashlight at them, but they'd just jump away, taunting and teasing him. MJ wasn't making much progress either, although the Firey seemed more cautious around her than the others because of her long glinting knife. _Why didn't we all get bats?_

Nodding, Sarah sprinted to where Dan lay unconscious. The single fiery from before grinned evilly at her as she came closer to it and it's prey. It hissed amusedly, "_So, the heroine returns. You can't save him, Sarah. He belongs to the Goblin King now._"

"No. I couldn't save Jessica from Him, but I'm going to save Dan." Sarah gripped her bat tightly.

"_But who's going to save you? Hmmm?_" The Firey cackled, cocking it's head at her, seemingly entertained by this whole situation.

"Get away from my friend!" Sarah growled, and pointed her bat at him warningly.

With it's hand on Dan's leg, it cackled at her display and started to back up quickly, dragging Dan towards the trees!

"Oh no you don't!" Sarah dropped the bat and grabbed both of Dan's wrists, digging in her heels as they began a grim tug-of-war over Dan's limp body. _Thank goodness that Dan's limbs aren't detachable like the Firey's are._

"Hold still." MJ's yelled, running up from behind Sarah. She stepped forward, her knife flashing as it sliced into the Firey's hand. It yowled with pain and dropped Dan.

It turned to MJ and growled,"Rrrrr!"

She glared back at him and growled back, "RRRRrrrrrrrr, To you too!"

Sarah huffed a bewildered laugh, awed.

The Firey tried to pull away as MJ raised her knife ready to rip into the Firey's body again and again. Without thinking, Sarah stopped her, grabbing her wrist, "NO!"

MJ gawked at Sarah in shock, "What!?"

The Firey glared at MJ for a last time, then turned to Sarah. It smiled, baring it's teeth menacingly and ran away, holding onto it's severed hand. They could hear it cackle to itself as it ran through the undergrowth. _That could be a problem…_

Suddenly Sarah was shoved to the clearing floor, and landed on her stomach painfully. She turned back and saw MJ with her knife above her, super angry.

"What the _hell_, Sarah?!" MJ yelled, and kicked Sarah's shoe for good measure, making her flinch.

"I…I'm sorry!" Sarah said, shocked, twisting around to lean back on her elbows, looking up at MJ.

"They've been trying to kill us! Why didn't you let me destroy the damn thing?!" She stopped talking, breathing hard.

Sarah laid there, nervous and confused. _Why didn't I let MJ slaughter that Firey? They were obviously trying to kill us, right?_ Sarah looked back over the clearing. Nearby Sean and Taylor were dismembering the last Firey. Taylor swung his flashlight, hitting it square in the jaw. It went down, and they continued to take off all it's body parts. But...It was almost too easy. None of them were hurt. None of the Firey's had even TRIED to go for the head! It was as if, it had been something of a game to them...

Sarah turned back to MJ, making up an excuse, "I'm sorry, I-I couldn't handle the blood. Next time...just... warn me to close my eyes, or something."

MJ stared back at her. Sarah wondered what she would do. Eventually she sighed, and pocketed her knife. "Seriously, dude? Blood? _That's_ your kryptonite?"

"Huh?" Sarah said, as MJ offered her hand and pulled the bewildered brunette up.

"It's hard to rattle you, Sarah. I would know. I say things on purpose _just_ to get a reaction out of you! And now I find out it's just blood that makes you nervous? Pssh!" She smirked at her, and Sarah knew that she was forgiven.

Taylor and Sean were on their way over to the two girls. "I'm sick…of these freaking….WOODS!" Taylor yelled angrily as he kicked some of the heads away out of his path. They howled in protest. He reached Sarah and MJ, and put his hands on his lanky hips, leaning over and breathing heavily.

The clearing went still except for the twitching red, orange, and pinkish body parts. They would reassemble soon, but for now nothing else wanted to kill the teens. Sarah saw one leg hopping away into the forest…

"We're…ok?" Sarah asked nervously, hardly believing their good luck.

"Don't know if I'd go _that_ far. I mean, we just got attacked by furry 3D puzzle pieces." Sean stomped on a long-fingered hand that was trying to crawl away.

"I'm good." MJ said, unwrapping another piece of gum and popping it into her mouth.

"I'm fine. It's _him_ I'm worried about." Taylor said, nodding towards Dan's form.

Everyone's attention turned to the pale boy in a hoodie and gym shorts, prostrate on the ground. Sarah knelt next to Dan, gently brushing leaves and dirt off his pale face.

"He's breathing, but… jeez, he looks terrible." She murmured, taking in the scratches all over his body from trees and bushes and perhaps even Firey claws. "Dan? Dan, buddy, you gotta wake up, okay?" Sarah shook him a little, gently smacking his face.

At the sound of Sarah's voice, Dan's eyelids twitched, and then began to flutter open.

Sarah sighed in relief, then allowed her worry to come through. "Dan, _why_ are you out here!?" She gave him an extra shake, a little gruffly. _Why would he do this?_

Dan's eyes seemed to look past her as he opened his mouth, mumbling softly.

"Here… I'm here… You're… He's… here."

"We're all here, Dan. It's ok now…" Sarah sighed, relieved and frustrated. She looked around the clearing again. _Maybe we should call an ambulance? We gotta…_

Sarah gasped in surprise as Dan's hands snapped out to grab the front of her hoodie and pulled her closer. His eyes, suddenly clear, bored right into hers.

"Why!? Why did you come, Sarah?" He didn't break gaze with her.

Sarah was speechless. "I-What? We had to! We couldn't leave you out here-"

"You shouldn't have come." Dan's voice broke and his lips trembled, his eyes were tearful.

He suddenly pulled her closer, angry. His eyes were watery and his voice became a terrified hiss, "Now… _he__ can LEAVE_!"

Dan let Sarah go…and she fell back, scrambling away from him.

"No…." She whispered. _Oh please no!_

Everything felt colder as mist seemed to sneak along the forest floor. Sarah could almost imagine the excited, tell-tale whispers of Goblins all around her...

"Sarah?! What is it? What did he say?" Taylor asked worried, crouching down next to her.

Sarah put her hand up to ward Taylor off. She shook her head, unable to speak as Dan's eyes fluttered closed. With a final sigh…he went still once more.

"What did he say, SARAH?!" MJ and Sean demanded, fear evident in their eyes.

"He said we're screwed, guys. We're screwed." Sarah wrapped her arms around her to stave off the cold she felt.

_What have I done?_

_._

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So! What do ya'll think? Hopefully these chapter will inspire comments, favorites, and follows. I'll be waiting for 5 reviews before continuing the story, like normal. Love ya guys! What's going to happen next? Dun, dun, DUN!


	10. Chapter 10: What's in a Name?

Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh you guys! THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS! OnePercent, your comments made my day. Seriously, thank you for reviewing every single chapter, lol! I'm so glad you enjoyed it! And, honestly, you're the reason I worked to get this chapter out. I usually like to wait to post a chapter after getting 5 reviews. Basically 5 reviews per chapter. But this time I thought "to heck with it" and I posted two chapters in a row and then you gave me 9 reviews! mayfire21 gave me the 10th, so I got the desired reviews! This one's for you kid ;) And thank you mayfire21! I'm glad you liked it, and I'm glad you reviewed!

Ok, is everyone on their toes yet? On with the show! Don't forget to let me know what you think about where the story's headed.

disclaimer: Not mine. We've been over this.

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**Chapter 10: What's in a Name?**

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Sarah slouched in her seat nervously, arms folded. She and the whole high school were gathered in the semi-dark auditorium, listening to an emergency assembly that was called the next afternoon. Stacey's mom, Mayor Green, had set it up to answer any questions or rumors about what had happened to Dan. The mayor was speaking behind a lectern on the stage. Her grey suit was professional and contrasted against the deep red of the theater curtains that were hanging as the backdrop. Her blonde hair, cut in a 'round bob' style, framed her face nicely but her normally award-winning 'Mayor' smile was absent as she gazed at all the students in concern.

"...And I want to assure everyone that the doctors and staff at Westchester Medical are watching over Mr. Pierce." She said, frowning slightly, "But just as important as his well-being is all of yours. So I want you all to know that whatever you're feeling right now is normal, and it's ok."

_I highly doubt that._ Sarah sighed tiredly, sinking even further into the burgundy-red auditorium seats. There was nothing "normal" about what she'd been going through...what ANY of her friends have been going through._ This is out of our league... _she thought, somewhat in despair.

Sarah could hear Cody and Jocelyn snicker from the row behind her. "What if I feel bored and hungry?" Cody complained.

"That is _normal _and it's _ok_." Jocelyn giggled back.

Sarah ignored them. All she could think about was what happened last night. Over and over, her mind was pulled back to the image of a moon shining brightly above a clearing with a strange tree stump in the center. Dan's steel grip was on her shirt, holding her face to his, whispering, "You shouldn't have come...now _he_ can leave!"

Sarah shuddered. _Dan. Poor Dan. What else could I have done? _Sarah crossed her legs and began tapping her foot anxiously.

She sighed again, rubbing her tired eyes...wanting to sleep more than anything else. When she opened them, she was shocked to notice words carved into the arm of her chair.

...'Dan was here'...?

Suddenly, a memory shook loose. She thought back to another assembly about a year or so ago...

She remembered Dan sitting in the very seat she was sitting in, fidgeting with his car keys while the two of them talked.

"Dan," Sarah had said, looking worriedly over at him "Have you been thinking about...what happened? Back when we were kids?"

"What? No.", He looked over at her, surprised and...fearful? Then he glanced away, and backtracked slightly, "I-I mean, I think about it sometimes, not like all the time or anything but..." he looked back at Sarah, "...why? Do you?"

She remembered him lifting up a single car key to the chair arm. Silver teeth biting into the red paint…

Sarah came back to the present assembly, and shook her head, sadly. _Some friend I am. I guess that was the last time he and I really talked._

Mayor Green was still talking about Dan and safety procedures so Sarah leaned back and rested her eyes, thinking back through the whole conversation and trying to pick up any clues. Why _did_ he go into the woods?

...

* * *

It was November, a little before Thanksgiving break, at an optional assembly on performing community service. Sarah had showed up early just to see what was up. Most of the seats were empty but...there was only one seat she wanted...

"Hey Dan." She smiled at him.

He looked up at Sarah in surprise, "Sarah? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you know...just doing my 'civic duty'." She winked at him and then sat down.

"Ha. You sound like Luke." He nodded towards Luke's head on the front row, who was listening with rapt attention.

Sarah snorted in amusement and shrugged, "Ok, you caught me. Drama club is taking place right after and some of the freshmen wanted tips, so why not you know?"

He nodded understandingly.

"So what about you? Why are you here?" Sarah looked at him. He looked like always; like he was about to go to the gym and lift weights for football or gym. He had a messy fringe hairstyle, and was sporting his normal blue hoodie with a white shirt peeking up underneath. Baggy gym shorts and Nike shoes to finish.

"Oh, uh, my dad said I should check it out. He said community service looks good on college applications. Or whatever."

He looked super nervous for some reason, looking at Sarah then glancing away. He fidgeted with his car keys.

_He looks bothered by something._ Sarah tried to put him at ease. "So, how's football?"

"Yeah, I mean, football is...whatever." He focused really hard on his keys.

"Not good?" She worried.

"Huh? No, it's fine. I mean, it's a lot of pressure sometimes, and maybe I'm not crazy about that..."

"But...?" She tried to figure out what was wrong. _He is acting different.._.

"But what?" He looked surprised at Sarah.

"But you do LIKE it don't you?" She asked, a little exasperated if she was being honest.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Right. Of course."

_Well, THAT'S reassuring._ She was this close to ordering him to tell her what was on his mind. Dan flipped his car keys. He raised one to the red wooden arm of the chair and began scratching at the paint. Sarah blinked at the apparent vandalism, wanting to stop him but not saying anything as she stared at him.

"Is everything ok?" She asked gently.

"What? Oh yeah. I'm good. I just, um...kinda tired I guess. Today. And lately."

"Well, good thing Thanksgiving break is coming up, Huh?" She grinned at him and that seemed to do the trick.

"Oof, tell me about it!" His scoffed and his face transformed into a relieved smile._ Hmmm, better keep on this topic then..._

"Got any plans?" she asked.

"Yeah, my family's going out to my uncle's cabin out in the sticks."

"A cabin out in the middle of nowhere? That sounds.."_ Creepy? _"...Fun! You'll have a blast!" She said, excited for him.

He smiled brightly again, "Yeah, totally. It's fun every now and then. I can get away from people and just...be by myself. Though it can get a little weird sometimes..." Dan said, trailing off. Dan and Sarah both shared a love for the woods but Sarah didn't go into them anymore...she couldn't risk it.

"How do you mean?" She was curious to hear what he'd say. _Could we both be thinking about...?_

"Well, all those trees and shadows and all that. Sometimes they remind me of..."

He trailed off. Sarah realized what he was trying to say. _Yup. Same page here._

Dan coughed, trying to ease the tension that had come over both his and Sarah's bodies.

"...uh, you know. Stuff." He said.

"Yeah. Stuff." Sarah agreed simply. She guessed this wasn't the best topic after all.

Dan held her gaze for a moment before his eyes flitted away. He refocused his effort into carving his key in the chair's arm. Sarah realized that he was carving his name.

Sarah wasn't like Emily or Stacey when it came to interrogating with "finesse". She'd never really been a patient person. She was afraid of being afraid, you could say. She ran onto the metaphoric battlefield with her sword drawn out, waving it wildly like a maniac. She faced her trials head on like a bull, somehow believing that if she faced them for the most part; they would be more afraid of her than she of them. She needed to work on that though, as she well knew. It was a good thing in many cases, but other times you needed to be cautious and more intuitive. But it was her nature, so she decided to just come right out and say it, hoping to help.

"Dan, have you been thinking about...what happened with Jess? Back when we were kids?"

"What? No.", He looked over at her, surprised and...fearful? Then he glanced away, and backtracked slightly, "I-I mean, I think about it sometimes, not like all the time or anything but..." he looked back at Sarah, "...why? Do you?"

Sarah sighed. What should she say? That at least 2 minutes of everyday she thought of Jessica? In a way she was always with her, like a bad habit.

"I...I try not to." Sarah said, sadly, "It's not healthy to dwell."

Dan nodded sadly. "I know what you mean. But it's hard not to sometimes, you know?" He continued, "It's like this...cloud that follows you around. "

She bit her lip and nodded. _Yes, I do know._

"Uh, do you remember...", Dan's face turned hard and he scratched deeper into the wood the word 'was'. "Do you remember that thing we made up? In the woods? The... the Goblin King?"

The breath caught in her throat. She didn't feel like being a bull anymore. She felt like being a timid, scared rabbit.

"S-sort of..."

"Let me ask you something." Dan's question came out fast and fully-formed, like a question he'd been holding in a long time. "Do you, um, do you remember how we came up with that? 'Cause it's really weird and specific for a bunch of kids, right? Like, did we take it from a movie or something?"

There was a glint of something in Dan's eyes. Something hopeful. Terrified. Desperate.

"The name 'Goblin King'? Uhhh.. ..." Sarah scrambled. "...I think we made it up Dan. I think Jess and I saw it written somewhere." Sarah shifted uncomfortably, not liking to hide the truth. But not willing to risk anything either.

The Goblin King was Jareth's 'title'. Not his name. And it was the name he had asked the girls to introduce him to their friends. He had said that his personal name was for Jess and Sarah's use only and that it held great power. At that time, it made Jess and her feel special to have a secret between just them three.

And now? Now, it was Sarah's burden to bear alone.

Dan breathed a sigh of what seemed like relief...or was it disappointment?

The silence between the two of them hung heavy.

"Dan, you know if you ever want to talk..." Sarah placed her hand lovingly on his arm, wanting to be close to him.

He jerked away as if burned. He gave a nervous laugh and looked a little upset, "Wow, hey, I'm not- I don't want you to think I'm some sort of-I'm fine!"

"Ok." Sarah drew her hand back to her, feeling a little rejected.

"Seriously." He reaffirmed.

"Okay, Dan. I'm sorry." She said again, embarrassed, wishing she could take it back. She didn't want to make him feel weak. She just wanted...

Dan fidgeted in his seat, clearly uncomfortable.

"I, uh...y'know, I think maybe this whole community service thing isn't for me after all. I'm just gonna go."

Sarah didn't trust herself to speak, so she didn't say anything. She stared straight ahead and he rose to leave...then hesitated.

"But, um..."

Sarah glanced up at him, curious.

"Thanks Sarah, I appreciate it." He nodded sincerely. Sarah felt...hurt...and angry. Selfish. But she nodded at him and did her best to smile back. If Dan just wanted to be friends...they could just be friends, right? No problem...

Dan walked up the aisle and out the auditorium doors...leaving nothing but words in the paint….

'Dan was here'...

* * *

Sarah flinched as she felt a wet wad of paper hit the back of her neck, bringing her out of the memory and back to the present. She turned and glared behind her at Cody who was just grinning unrepentant at her._ Idiot. I wish he'd... _She shook her head in anger and turned back to face the front. Sarah sighed, thinking of Dan and their conversation again. _I did all I could. Dan just wouldn't let me in._

Mayor Green was starting to wrap up and soon they would all go home. Except Sarah wasn't ready to go home. Maybe she could crash at MJ's again tonight? After what had happened in the woods with Dan, there had been no way in hell or heaven that she was going to stay at her house ALONE. So MJ had asked her Dad who, while upset that it was a school night, miraculously said yes.

"…and now we'll turn things over to your school president, Luke Thomas, with a very important message on wildlife safety." Mayor Green wrapped up. She turned and smiled at Luke who was standing off to the side of the stage in the shadows, a notebook in his hand.

"Psst. Sarah! Over here!"

Sarah looked around confused, and she sat up to see who was calling her. She turned her head and spotted Taylor nearby sitting with Emily, MJ, and Stacey. They waved her over as Luke took the stage.

"What's up Westchester High?" He flashed a charming smile over the podium, causing a few girls to twitter to themselves, "Ok, we'll make this quick. The Sheriff's office have received some reports of bear sightings in town over the last few days! So today we're going to talk about a few _bear_ essential steps you can take to avoid a _grizzly_ surprise!"

Sarah inwardly rolled her eyes at his bear puns as she stood up and crept across the semi-dark auditorium to join the others.

"I don't know guys, this sounds important. Maybe we should listen." Emily's whisper reached Sarah's ears as she sat herself in the empty chair next to them.

"Emily, c'mon, we've heard this speech every year since first grade." Stacey rolled her eyes.

"Besides, we have more important stuff to talk about. Like what when down last night." Taylor agreed. Looked like he and Stacey weren't at each other's throats anymore. Probably because Taylor had been right and they HAD found Dan.

"Ugh, last night was a blur. I barely remember even getting home." MJ groaned, rubbing her eyes. She was as tired as Sarah. They had both stayed up, sleeping on the living room floor in sleeping bags and hadn't slept at all. Whispering worriedly to each other until the sun rose, chasing the shadows away.

"What did you tell the cops?" Taylor asked her.

"Just enough. They wouldn't have believed the full story anyways. " MJ shrugged, playing with a silver ring in one of her maroon dreads.

"Yeah, me too. They seemed super suspicious but let it go. " He sighed and put his head into his hands, his signature beanie never fell off, "I barely slept after I got home. And I had nightmares all night about fuzzy red body parts and being lost in the woods for hours. What happened out there was..._freakin' _scary man."

Sarah nodded tiredly but tried to cheer him up. "Hey, we handled it like pros." She gave him a light punch on the shoulder, grinning jokingly.

"Yeah, maybe _you_ did. I was scared out of my mind!" Taylor gave a grim smile.

"Could have fooled me." Sarah muttered, thinking back to how brave Taylor and Sean and MJ were the other night.

He scoffed at that, but seemed cheered up, "Well, anyways, we filled these guys in on what happened." He nodded towards Emily and Stacey.

"I still can't believe those creepy firey things." MJ shook her head.

"They sound horrible..." Emily murmured, hugging herself.

MJ looked taken aback, " What? No, they were awesome! Besides trying to rip our faces off."

Sarah rolled her eyes at MJ. Technically they hadn't even tried. Sarah asked the group, " What about Luke?"

"Sean texted him. He knows." Taylor nodded.

"I still can't believe you guys were actually right." Stacey toyed nervously with her blonde hair, looking ashamed of herself for yesterday,.

"Hang on, we need to get that on tape." MJ grinned widely at Stacey's chagrin.

"So…what happens now?" Emily timidly spoke up, looking around at us curiously.

"What do you mean?" Stacey looked worriedly down at Emily, "They found Dan, so…everything's over now. Right?"

"Those Firey that we encountered…they _work_ for the Goblin King. They're like his puppets." Sarah mused, thinking about the way they had acted. Herding them and toying with them.

Stacey became distressed. "What? He couldn't kill Dan on his own? He had to send his pets to do it?"

Sarah leaned into the comfy seat and pondered out loud, "I don't think they were trying to_ kill_ Dan. At least not mainly…"

Taylor spoke up, "How do you figure that?"

"Well, think about it….Dan was helpless out there. They could have killed him easily, and he went missing the night BEFORE we went looking for him. They had plenty of time. But it was more like they wanted to…_take_ him somewhere. Or….to use him as _bait_." Sarah swallowed at that last part.

MJ and Taylor looked at each other worriedly. Sarah had indeed told them what Dan had said. Right before they were all pulled aside by the police and questioned individually about what happened. Sarah remembered the flashing red and blue lights coloring the trees and bushes as the police cars and ambulance had shown up after MJ had made the call to her dad. They had had to carry Dan's body out of the forest to the nearest road. Sarah was surprised that the Goblin King hadn't shown up to stop them. They had made it out of the woods with barely a scratch. She hadn't felt any safer though. Throughout the police's questioning she had been trembling as she constantly glanced at the woods. Searching for any sign of Jareth coming to cart her away.

"Bait?! For _us_?" Emily asked, tearful.

_Darn it. Shouldn't have said anything. _

"Don't worry Emily, don't worry, they stopped the Goblin King from getting Dan." Stacey soothed Emily, rubbing her back.

_I hate to pour salt on the wound buuuuuuut… _"Which means he'll be back guys." Sarah grimaced. She let it sink in, "Whatever the Goblin King wants….I think he was just getting warmed up."

Emily let out a moan and put her hands on her face. Stacey bit her lip and looked down. Taylor's gaze turned forlorn and MJ looked away from the group to stare at the wall.

Sarah thought back to her conversation with Dan, looking for a clue as to why he would seek Jareth out.

"Hey…can I ask you guys something? When was the last time each of you talked to Dan?" Sarah called the group's attention back to her.

It was MJ's turn to look chagrined, "Oh jeez…_years._ "

"I don't know." Emily murmured sadly, shaking her head.

"A couple years, maybe?" Taylor also looked embarrassed.

"The last day of school. Just before summer vacation." Stacey stated proudly.

_Now we're getting somewhere!_ Sarah turned to Stacey, "Did he seem…distracted? Did he bring up what happened when we were kids? Did he ask you about the Goblin King?"

Stacey thought hard, "I don't remember…. I think we mostly talked about our plans for the summer." Suddenly she gasped, "But now that you mention it, he did seem kind of…evasive?"

"Sarah? Why are you bringing this up?" Taylor asked.

"I've just been thinking about a conversation that he and I had about a year ago..." Sarah's eyebrows furrowed together, "I'm wondering if maybe he was stuck on what happened when we were kids. Trying to make sense of it. And maybe..."

"...he went back into the woods by choice." Taylor's lips pressed into a thinner line than usual.

Sarah nodded soberly.

MJ spoke up, "Well, there's only one way we'll find out for sure."

"What?" Stacey asked, curious.

MJ looked at the group like they were stupid, "Uh, we go to the hospital and ask him? Duh?"

The group nodded in agreement.

The three o'clock bell rang as Luke finished up his bear speech, "So remember...'be _beary_ careful!'"

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So! Large chapter huh? I hope you enjoyed it! Questions? Comments? Leave a review! 5 more reviews and the next chapter is yours! Toodles!


	11. Chapter 11: The Powers That Be

Hey guys! It's been a while! Thanks for all the reviews, they warmed my cold heart ^_^ This chapter is dedicated to the people who reviewed. I hope you guys are liking this story. I'm so excited to eventually finish it and see your reactions. Enjoy chapter 11!

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**Chapter 11: The Powers that Be**

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Sarah lingered in the hallway after the assembly, watching as students all around her were busy chit-chatting, grabbing their things, or going home. The sounds of a hundred voices and slamming lockers filled the school corridors. She wanted to do the same things they were doing, but instead found herself silently observing the young adults pass to and fro towards their different destinations. It was almost as if Sarah was stuck. Stuck in time and space, she mused to herself. Almost like Alice in the Underground. Which way was up and down? Right and left?

Obviously, she was tired and it made her more whimsical. Not to mention a little hungry for the afterschool snack that wouldn't be waiting for her at home. But mostly , she just felt afraid. She needed to sleep, but she didn't like the idea of returning to an empty house. Not yet anyways. Nothing keeps an imagination running like a teenager girl by herself at home near magic infested woods, as anyone in their right mind would tell you. Yet again, Sarah found herself missing her parents and Toby. She rubbed at her eyes as she rested against the hallway wall, listening to the noises around her. So tired…

"Hey are you walking?"

Sarah's eyes snapped open as MJ materialized out of the steady stream of students.

She shrugged, "I don't have a car, so, yeah." Her mouth opened involuntarily into a yawn.

"Good. I am also walking. We should do so in the same direction at a similar pace."

Sarah's yawn stopped halfway and changed direction, becoming an amused laugh. MJ was so weird. It was clear from the bags under MJ's coal-lined eyes that she was tired as well.

Emily suddenly popped out of the sea of teens, her brown curls bouncing with her little bow-tie barrett as she came over. She smiled shyly, "Hey, do you guys mind if I tag along? I have to return some library books, and with there being a bear around and all..."

Sarah nodded, but MJ grinned and said, "That depends... can I run faster than you?"

Emily laughed hesitantly, a little nervous "Ha ha...Uhhhh, probably?" Then she stopped and studied MJ with her sweet brown eyes. Her lips slowly curled up into a timidly teasing smile, "Unless… I'm just _saying that_ to gain the advantage."

"Woah! ...I think I need to reassess your threat level!" MJ laughed, delighted at Emily's attempt to joke. She slung her arm around Emily's now giggling shoulders in a rare moment of camaraderie.

Sarah chuckled. It felt like old times again. Emily was joking more, and MJ hadn't smiled like this in years.

Suddenly Sarah's attention was caught by spikey black hair in the crowd. Sean was making his way towards the gym, accompanied by his teammate and best friend, Tom. Tom was a complete opposite to Sean with pale skin and tons of freckles. It was obvious that they were headed to practice based on their jerseys and shorts. Sean stopped though when he noticed the three girls staring at him expectantly.

He quickly turned to Tom, "Hey, uh, go on ahead... I'll catch up."

"Sure thing." Tom eyed the girls curiously before he walked away.

Sean glanced around before pulling the girls off to the side in an attempt to not draw attention from the other students. He looked embarrassed, "Sorry for taking off before the cops showed up. Last night was _insane_! I didn't want to risk...well, you know my mom worries enough as it is-"

Sarah shook her head before he could continue, "Sean, all that matters is that everyone's ok. Thank goodness you came! You threw that Firey against a tree for crying out loud! We would have been toast if not for you."

"Yeah..." He laughed, and massaged the back of his neck, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Sean glanced down the hall after Tom's fiery red hair, before looking back at them, "I better get to practice. But we'll all talk later?" he asked hopefully.

"Yeah. Talk later." Sarah agreed. She noticed that Stacey and Taylor had showed up while they were all talking to Sean.

For the second time that week their little group was complete. Well, almost. Luke was probably off doing a million things at once and Dan was absent, obviously. A lot of curious looks were being thrown at them from everyone who passed by their now large group in the hall. It was odd to see the Asian (now Asian Jock), the Cheerleader, the Hobo, the Kindergartner, the Goth, and the Bookworm all together. All that was missing now was the Teacher's Pet (Thomas) and the Football Star (Dan).

Most people probably didn't even know that they all had been best friends at one time. Some students even stopped and eyed the group to see if there was some group activity going on that the whole school was supposed to get involved with. It didn't last though, and good-byes were said to Sean as he headed off to basketball.

Just then, they all saw Mayor Green heading down the hallway straight for them...

"Hello Stacey. Everyone." She cheerfully said.

As always, Mayor Green was looking like she was ready for the cameras. Her expensive suit, make-up, and perfume all giving her a sophisticated air. Her face turned somber however as she watched the teens carefully, "How are you guys holding up?"

_Well, I'm afraid to go home alone and Taylor has a bunch of nightmares. But besides that..._

"We're fine, mom." Stacey answered for the group, a little annoyed. Both her and Mayor Green had the same shade of blonde hair, with Stacey's being in a fish-tail braid.

Sarah cleared her throat, "Um, actually can I ask you a question?"

"Certainly." Mayor Green looked curiously at her.

"You mentioned Dan was in the hospital. I was wondering how he's doing? Can we see him yet? We need to talk to him about...um...school stuff. "

Mayor Green frowned, "Oh, the hospital isn't allowing visitors yet, I'm afraid. I think they'd like to let Dan wake up first."

Sarah felt a tendril of fear slide over her shoulders_. Wake up?_

Taylor obviously was thinking the same thing as he spoke up from behind her, "Wait, back up... Dan _still _isn't awake? Are you saying he's in, like, a coma?"

"I'm sorry. It's just too soon to tell. But as soon as there's news, I'll make sure you're all aware." She nodded apologetically.

Mrs. Green looked at each one of the gang, seeming to brighten up a bit, "You know, despite the circumstances, I'm glad to see you all hanging out again. You're good kids."

"I reject that combination of words." MJ deadpanned, brushing some maroon and blonde dreadlocks back from her shoulder.

"Well, I'd certainly prefer you to some of Stacey's _other_ friends…" Mayor Green looked pointedly at Stacey.

"Mom, come on." Stacey said, trying to hint for her to drop it.

"Speak of the Devil…" Taylor said. Sarah followed Taylor's angry gaze down the hall…and saw Britney making a beeline in their direction.

"Aaaand that would be my cue." Taylor said, annoyed. He turned and slouched away.

"Likewise. Mom, let's go." Stacey agreed, flicking her fish-tail braid and shooting hateful glances at Britney.

Taylor, Stacey, and Mayor Green all made themselves scarce as Britney approached.

"Hi Emily." Britney said, looking nervous. Her pretty lips pouted slightly.

Emily's surprise was as plain as the nose on her face. "Uh. Hi?"

"Listen, can we talk? Alone?" Britney asked hesitantly, glancing around at MJ and Sarah, and then focusing on Emily again.

Sarah traded surprised yet skeptical glances with MJ. But, like always, Emily had no reservations when it came to Britney and allowed herself to be lead towards the front doors. Sarah and MJ would have followed behind except for the look that Emily sent them which clearly said "wait for me".

"What do you think that's all about?" MJ asked.

"I dunno. But it's fishy." Sarah frowned, remembering when Emily was cornered the other night by Brit and her lackeys.

"Are you sleeping over again?" MJ asked as they headed over to their assigned lockers.

"Yes please! Could I stay the rest of the week?" Sarah asked hopefully, "Would your dad mind?"

MJ pursed her lips, thinking. "He probably might agree to a second night... But unless you want _former_ 'Detective Adams' and _now_ "Chief of Police Adams" to start questioning you, you might want to go home tomorrow. Don't be afraid. I can give you some things that might protect your house against another attack."

"_Might_ protect?" Sarah asked, looking upset. She didn't want to have to deal with this. "I need some more reassurance than _that_, MJ."

MJ threw her hands in the air and sighed, "It's not an exact science, Sarah. It's not like I'm an expert on the fae-"

Both MJ and Sarah hesitated as they turned the corner and saw someone leaning against MJ's locker. They relaxed slightly when they saw it was just Jocelyn. She looked like she had been waiting for them. She watched the two girls approach her with a smirk, but looked a little put-out by Sarah being there.

_Probably wanted to torment MJ without any backup._ Sarah thought angrily.

"Oooh, look! It's MJ the Witch!" Jocelyn wasted no time getting into it.

"Oh please. Stop. Every time you use that extremely clever nickname, it just gets more hurtful." MJ deadpanned.

Jocelyn frowned and looked at MJ like she was dumb, "Um, it's _supposed _to be hurtful? That's why I'm using it, idiot?"

MJ simply smirked over at a now fuming Sarah and said, "See Sarah? Just when I think I've got her figured out, she _dazzles_ me with new depths of cunning." MJ nudged the cross-country athlete aside as she got into her locker. Jocelyn just stood there, not leaving.

Sarah leaned against her own locker and glared at Jocelyn, "So did you, like, want something Jocelyn? Or is this just a random mock-and-walk while you wait for Britney?"

Jocelyn glared back. The hallway was practically empty as students made a break for home or after-school activities.

"I heard you tried to visit Dan in the hospital. You're obsessed with him!" She accused.

Sarah snorted loudly, "Someone seems jealous...? And no. We haven't visited him, YET." She promised, wanting to see if she could push some buttons. A tired Sarah was a snarky Sarah.

"Well, you wanna know what I think?" Jocelyn growled and put her hands on her hips, annoyed that her intimidation wasn't working.

"There is not enough '_No'_ in the world." Sarah mumbled to herself, ignoring Jocelyn and turning to open her locker. Jocelyn turned to MJ, trying to get a rise out of her instead.

"I think you all _lured_ Dan out into the woods so you could do a creepy love spell on him..."

"Yup. And then I sucked out all his blood with my vampire fangs." MJ shut her locker door and turned to Jocelyn,"Honey, he was _unconscious _when we found him."

Jocelyn folded her arms and leaned against MJ's now closed door, "Either way, you should stay away from Dan. Maybe you used to be buddies back when you were _dumb babies_ or whatever, but he's got _non-loser_ friends now."

"Oh no. Stop. Please. That hurts." Sarah deadpanned like MJ normally did. Jocelyn was such a ditz. It was clear that MJ's attitude was starting to rub off on Sarah. Or maybe she was just really tire-

The back of Sarah's neck was roughly grabbed by a strong hand and suddenly her head was **slammed** against the locker door! BAM!

"_Owwwww!"_ Sarah gasped, automatically grasping her head with her hands. The world tilted a little bit, and the colors swirled as she was momentarily blinded by the pain. _What the heck?_

"How about that, loser? Did _that_ hurt?" she heard Jocelyn seeth in the background behind her.

_Did she just….? Wow. I must have really pushed her over the limit… _Sarah thought distractedly to herself. She didn't know what to do. This had never happened to her before.

Through the sudden headache, Sarah could hear MJ yell, "What the HELL's your problem?!"

Sarah looked up and watched with bleary eyes as Jocelyn got up in MJ's face, "Go on. Try something." Jocelyn whispered, dead serious. _What is wrong with Jocelyn today?!_

MJ started to lose her nerve, "Y-you think I'm afraid of y—"

Jocelyn poked her in the chest, hard. "Sorry, what was that? I didn't hear you."

MJ looked upset, glancing at Sarah who was silently observing. It was very uncharacteristic of Sarah to freeze when her friends were in trouble, but she was still trying to come to terms with being physically assaulted on school property. Jocelyn was a tall, buff cross-country athlete while MJ was a thin African-American. What was going to happen?

_I wish..._

Suddenly, MJ began to clutch at her forehead too, as if _she _had gotten her head smashed into a locker and was now suffering from a headache as well.

"C'mon, speak up." Jocelyn huffed angrily.

"Urrrmph…" MJ grimaced in pain, gripping her head. Her dark brown eyes focused on Joss and glared with unadulterated hatred, "Back off Jocelyn. Right now." She growled, her voice lower than normal.

"Or what, shrimp? You gonna _sarcasm_ me to death?" She poked MJ in the chest again, harder.

Sarah blinked. She must be seeing things. MJ's eyes actually flashed RED for a second…

Then suddenly MJ unleashed her fury.

"I said BACK OFF!" MJ bellowed.

WHAM!

Thrown by some invisible force, MJ's locker door slammed open, hitting Jocelyn square in the face!

"Ooooowwwwwww!" Jocelyn immediately went down. Falling to the hallway floor, clutching her nose with both hands. "Ow! Owwwwwwww!"

If Sarah was shocked before, she was now stupefied. What just _happened_?! She glanced at the open locker door and stepped back warily, expecting a goblin or someone worse to step out of the space inside. MJ's eyes had flashed red...

Another groan from Jocelyn snapped her attention back to the teenager sitting on the floor in agony. Blood started to dribble onto her shirt from under her hands and Sarah could only look on in revulsion, headache forgotten, as Jocelyn slowly lifted her hands away from her face. Her hands were smeared with blood and more was coming out her nose, running down her lips and chin in a macabre river. Her nose seemed to be broken.

Jocelyn looked down at her hands and stared at the red liquid with a confused expression on her face. She looked back up to MJ in disbelief, "You…Did you just…"

But MJ was already yanking an open-mouthed Sarah away from the lockers, before Jocelyn had the chance to say anything else. They started power-walking up the hall away from the scene of the crime.

"The locker…you...you didn't touch it!" Sarah said breathlessly, in a panic. She wondered if MJ really _was_ a vampire after all.

MJ's chocolate brown skin looked paler than usual. She looked at Sarah with wide eyes, "I don't know what happened, Sarah!" She looked down at her hands in shock. Sarah remembered how her eyes flashed red before the locker sprang open.

_MJ broke Jocelyn's nose…?!_

MJ looked up at Sarah. Her hands clenched into fists and her face broke into an unrepentant grin. "Awesome!" She breathed.

Sarah didn't know if awesome was the right word for it. They burst through the front doors in a rush.

Emily and Britney were standing beside the school fountain, talking. The sun was bright and hurt their eyes momentarily. The water in the fountain sparkled as it gurgled and flowed. It was a gorgeous day with white puffy clouds and a deep blue sky, but Sarah hardly took notice. She couldn't stop seeing the red on Jocelyn's mouth and chin as she looked up with a befuddled expression.

"….Anyway, I just wanted to say I'm sorry." Sarah barely caught the last bit of what Britney had been saying.

"Excuse me?" Emily said, surprised.

Sarah couldn't believe what she was hearing. Britney was apologizing? This was _Britney _they were talking about, right? The same girl who blackmailed Stacey? Both she and MJ halted right in their tracks, not daring to come any closer.

Britney rubbed her forehead as if grappling with a painful migraine as well.

"I just…with Dan and everything, I was thinking about it, and I realized I've been kind of a b-word to you lately..." She paused and then, "and I'm sorry."

"Um. It's fine, Britney. Th-thank you." Emily said, scuffing her foot nervously on the ground.

Britney sighed, relieved, and her face lit up, "Great! So, I have a question…" Britney's flashed her a white smile. "Would you want to get coffee sometime?"

"I…what?" Emily looked even more taken aback. "You mean like a bunch of us, or…?"

"I thought maybe just you and me." Britney nodded.

"You and m-…uh, wow!" Emily's chubby face broke into a smile. She beamed, "I mean, yes! I'd love that!"

Emily and Britney exchanged numbers, and then parted ways. Britney waved to her as she left, not noticing MJ and Sarah off to the side. Emily waved back happily. By the time she returned to MJ and Sarah, she looked like she might float away with happiness... or shock.

"Okay. Seriously. Is it a full moon or something? Was Britney just _nice_ to you?" MJ gaped at Emily. Sarah was thinking the same thing, and watched Emily's reaction.

Emily bounced on her heels and clapped her hands in excitement like a kid on Christmas, "I'm so HAPPY! Dreams do come true! I knew I could 'kill her with kindness'! This is amazing!"

MJ and Sarah exchanged MORE uncertain glances. Things were getting so weird around here. First Dan, then the weird stuff with MJ and Jocelyn, and now Britney? Something was wrong. This wasn't Britney, was it? Was it really Britney? Could it be a fae dressed up like her?

MJ seemed to get over it first, however. She glanced behind her to make sure that a pissed off Jocelyn wasn't coming out the front doors for round 2, then ushered Sarah and Emily down the sidewalk towards the town library, "Well, since we're on the subject of mysterious occurrences of uncertain origin... wait 'til you hear what happened to _us_!" MJ grinned excitedly.

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So... Thoughts? Questions? Leave a review and I'll answer it. You all know the drill. 5 reviews = a chapter. TTYL!


	12. Chapter 12: Secrets in the Library

**I am soooooo sorry. Trust me when I say that the past few months have been crazy. I had a BUNCH of stuff going on with my husband's visa to the U.S. so we had to travel to Rio de Janeiro (It was amazing.) to have his interview (after 16 months of waiting!)and he got approved! So we sold all our stuff off and came to the U.S. and here we have been for about 2.5 weeks. So, believe me when I say that I haven't had the time to update. **

**This was a really fun chapter to write! I love libraries! And as I wrote it, I realized that the movie IT has a library scene too! At least the old version does. Does the new one have a library scene too? Leave a review and let me know! In this chapter we finally get a hint of Jareth. The only other chapters I wrote him in was chapters 2, 3, and 4 with Chapter 4 being the only one where he actually made an appearance. So this was REALLY overdue, don't you think**?

**An AMAZING thanks to Stantheman1212! You asked many legitimate questions and I promise I will answer them all eventually. A writer cant give up her secrets when she's not even halfway through the book ;) Anyways, you're the ONLY person who reviewed chapter 11! So, this next chapter is in honor of you. I dont even feel bad for disapearing for 3 months anymore since noone was reading anyways! XD (Lol, except you. Sorry for leaving you hanging.)**

**Thanks to everyone who stuck with me these past months! You guys are the best!**

No harm ever came from reading a book." - Evie, The Mummy 1999

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**Chapter 12: Secrets in the Library**

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Emily looked worried, "And you're _positive_ there's not some other explanation?"

"I'm telling you – I thought it, and it happened." MJ tapped her head expertly.

They were walking down the road, on their way to the library. It was mostly sidewalk but every once in a while their shoes would crunch where gravel met concrete. MJ had just finished her story of using what seemed to be magic on Jocelyn that afternoon by smashing her face in with a locker door.

"So, what, now you're telekinetic or something?" Emily gaped at her.

MJ shrugged, grinning.

"MJ... Can you do it again?" Sarah asked, quietly. This was huge.

MJ's face fell. "I don't know." She perked back up, "Maybe it's like a muscle? Like, maybe if I rest it a little, it'll come back stronger!"

"I don't know about all this…" Emily shook her head, and continued, "Doesn't the timing seem odd? Like maybe it has something to do with…_you know who_…"

"The Goblin King?" MJ deadpanned.

Emily jumped up and clamped her hand on MJ's mouth, "Shhhhh! Don't say his name!"

"Emily, he's not Voldemort." Sarah tried to reassure her. _Unless you use his real name..._

Emily got frustrated with her, and she flung her arms out. "You don't know _what_ he is, Sarah! None of us do." Emily shivered and looked around as they crossed the street toward the library.

_Hmm, touché._ Sarah pondered Emily's words. She guessed that she, in all honesty, DIDN'T understand Jareth all that well. Sure, growing up with him as an invisible friend and then 13 hours in his labyrinth with him being visible was more than anyone else in the gang, but did that really give her a thorough understanding of who or _what_ Jareth was?

Taking Sarah's silence as confirmation, Emily continued, "Dan goes missing…Turns up in a coma…Weird monsters prowling the woods….And now this, like, witchcraft stuff? What if the Goblin King _is_ doing this? What if he's manipulating you, MJ? Or controlling you?"

MJ held up a finger and said "First of all, I object to the persecutory undertones of the word 'witchcraft'. Second of all, I'm not being controlled." She huffed.

"But that's what you would say if you _were_!" Emily gasped, as if it all was confirmed now.

Sarah rolled her eyes. _It's what she would say if she wasn't as well._

MJ seemed to take Emily a little more seriously than Sarah did, however. "I…wow…." She was at a loss for words and looked a little concerned. "I guess you might be onto something there…"

"Why would he do that though?" Sarah argued, thinking out loud, "Why would a monster hand out superpowers? It doesn't make sense."

"Servants?", Emily suggested. "No, what's the other word….._Thralls. _What if the Goblin Kings wants MJ to be on his side and to turn her into some kind of puppet? Like those other Firey monster things?"

"A puppet for _what_ though?" Sarah asked, still not seeing it. Emily and MJ stared at her. The air grew uncomfortable. "Oh, what?" Sarah asked again, angrily. "To get to _me? _Don't be ridiculous." But Sarah was afraid. Isn't that what the Goblin King had more or less said that he wanted in not so many words?

Something about that struck a chord. MJ shivered, then shrugged it off with a snarky scoff like Sarah had done, "The Goblin King? Control a tough girl like me? Psssh. That…that could never happen." She suddenly looked hesitant, vulnerable, "Could it?"

They all paused underneath a shady tree to get out of the hot sun. They both looked at Sarah. She glanced back at them helplessly. _Oh, NOW I'm the expert?_

"MJ, we won't let that happen." Sarah smiled at MJ reassuringly.

MJ smiled back for a second and then groaned, "Ugh! Sarah! Could you, like, chill with that 'power of friendship' stuff? You're gonna give me a cavity." she huffed and rolled her eyes, but couldn't seem to help the teensy smile on her black lips, "But...uh, thanks." She said sheepishly, "And look," She turned to Emily, "I'm not gonna to _not _explore this just because it's supposedly evil... "

Emily started to say something, until MJ finished her sentence.

"…But I'll be careful. And if I start hearing, like, creepy whispers telling me to murder all my friends, you guys will be the_ first_ to know." She paused for a moment, thinking, and then grinned at the girls from the corner of her eye, "Well, one way or another."

"Oh my gosh, MJ, that is so _not_ funny!" Emily couldn't help the shocked giggle that escaped her.

"Uh, it kinda is!" Sarah laughed too.

The sound of the girls' laughter carried them inside the library.

Sarah took a deep, relaxing breath as she walked into one of her favorite haunts since she was a kid. The smell of old paper and book binding filled her nose. The library was very old, being one of the first buildings created years ago with the town. There had been renovations since then, but a lot of the building was still original with giant bulb lights the size of Sarah's head dangling above in a straight line down the ceiling. Right beneath the lights, on the floor, was a worn blood-red carpet making a straight line that followed the large bulb lights through the center of the building. It was like the library from the Pagemaster, only not so grandiose. It was a small town after all. Large wooden mahogany shelves stood erect on either side, chock full of adventure, fantasy, mystery and…..dare Sarah say it? _Magic._

Sarah milled around her little old friends; various books that she had read long ago that reminded her of the adventures she'd had inside as she walked along the aisles, glancing at their covers. MJ and she chatted a little, while Emily was busy returning her books.

"For real, though, I think there must be something in the water around here." MJ said.

"What do you mean?" Sarah asked distractedly while looking at titles like' Hey Arthur', 'the Bernstein Bears', and 'the Magic School Bus'.

"This town has, like, a _history_ of spooky weirdness. Witch trials, cults, you name it."

Sarah looked back at her, intrigued. "Did you say _witch trials_?"

"Yeah. Back in the 1800s. I'm pretty sure they hanged a bunch of women."

"Whaaaat? How have I never heard about this?" Sarah shook her head and scoffed, skeptical. She walked along the corridors, gently brushing against the book's spines longingly. They were now moving from children's books section into the young adult aisles.

"Well it's not exactly the kind of thing they write in tourism pamphlets." MJ scoffed.

" Uhhh, actually that's EXACTLY the kind of thing they put in tourism pamphlets." Sarah smirked, amused as Emily returned from the counter.

"What are you talking about?" She asked them.

"Westchester's spooky history." Sarah said.

Emily was surprised too, "Does it have one?!"

They both looked at MJ skeptically now.

"Yes! I'm not _making_ this stuff up, guys!" MJ huffed and held her hands in defense, annoyed.

Sarah delicately put back one of her favorite Nancy Drew books that she had pulled out to look at from when she was young. Her 'Let's-solve-this-mystery!' persona kicked in and she shrugged, "Well, if we _wanted_ to look into it...we _are_ in a library, guys. And we might even be able to learn more about..." Sarah glanced at Emily, who she had noticed tensed up, and backtracked, "uhh…You-know-who."

Emily smiled, grateful, and nodded. "Sounds good, I'm in."

"Wow, I'm surprised that you _want_ to." MJ lifted her eyebrows.

"I don't. But if something_ is_ really after us, I'd prefer to understand it." She acquiesced. Then she lit up and smiled shyly, "And to be honest, I just like hanging out with you guys."

"Awww, that's so cute. I think I'm gonna barf." MJ smiled.

Both she and Emily turned to a chuckling Sarah.

"Well, Sarah? Lead the way!"

Sarah pointed majestically towards the computer with an English accent, "To the comput-ah!" and they all hurried over to it. Emily sat down and they crowded behind her as she pulled up a catalog search.

"So where do we start?" Sarah asked her fellow investigators.

"Okay, let's try 'Westchester' and 'witches'." Emily suggested.

She hit enter and a ton of useless results hit the screen.

"Ugh. So much for that."

"Try 'New York cults.'" MJ suggested.

She hit enter again, then shook her head.

"Same thing. We need to narrow the search somehow."

"Try looking for…newspaper articles?" Sarah suggested. "This sort of stuff has to have turned up in the news over the years, right?"

"Ooh, good idea."

Emily made a few key strokes, then pushed enter. A handful of promising results popped up on screen.

"Bingo!" Emily grinned.

"Nice work, Sarah." MJ bumped her with her shoulder. Sarah shrugged. Connor was right…She was a smarty-pants.

Emily studied the search results. "Okay, I see two here we should check out. The first is a book. '_Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Kalmath Country, Volume VII.'"_

"On It." Sarah said. She wrote down the Dewey number, then disappeared into the back of the library. The book she found was enormous. It was in the deep and dark part of the library, among a bunch of other enormous old books. It was an ancient ledger with BRASS clasps! She whistled appreciatively as she lifted the heavy book into her arms, "Well, hello lovely!" She couldn't resist blowing the imaginary dust off of it, getting into character.

She headed back to the group, carrying her heavy treasure.

"Sarah, look at this!" MJ waved her over excitedly, and indicated for her to look at the computer She took the book from her hands and set it on the table as Sarah turned to the screen, leaning besides Emily. It was a newspaper article that she had pulled up.

Sarah looked closer, "Ooookay, let's see what we have heeere…..August 22nd, 1976…'Klamath Country Police Discover..." Sarah's eyes widened, "…._Forest Massacre'_?! Holy crap!"

Emily nodded and began reading from where Sarah had stopped, "…remains of 14 young men and women suspected to be part of a religious group were found in the Westchester woods several days ago…"

Sarah turned to her, shocked, "Those are _our_ woods."

How many times had she and Jess gone into those woods? How many times had she and the gang explored, played, and ran around like chickens with their heads cutt off in those woods? All without knowing the hidden secrets of the past that lay in the ground they tread on...

"…authorities characterized deaths as a mass suicide…but questions have arisen regarding mutilated remains and ritualistic posing…." Emily finished.

Sarah began to pace back and forth behind her, trying to make sense of it all.

Emily turned and looked at her, "Could it have been the Goblin King? It's gotta be! He must have murdered them, just like he did with Jess!"

Sarah paused and frowned.

MJ turned to them excitedly from where she was studying the opened book on the table, "You think _that's _crazy? Get a load of this!"

Both Emily and Sarah came over to where MJ was pointing at the page.

"'Trial proceedings for the People of Westchester versus… Uh, wow, that's a lot of names. Who _are_ all these women?" Sarah said, awed.

"The survivors of a massacre, on trial for witchcraft!" MJ grinned, clearly in her element.

_ANOTHER massacre?_

MJ leaned over the book and began to read, "Testimony of Rosemary Willow, November 9th, 1871… 'Miss Willow, please describe for the court where you were on the night of All Hallows' Eve…'"

MJ waved Emily over to join her and Emily hesitantly lowered her face to join MJ's close to the faded print…

Emily started hesitantly, "Uuuh,..'I was walking home from a masquerade party, through the woods off Mill Creek Road.'"

MJ: Would you please tell the jury what you saw that night?

Emily: I s-saw people in the woods…

MJ: Let the record show that Miss Willow has indicated the defendants.

Emily: And I saw…another.

MJ: What do you mean by another? Another person? Do you mean the deceased, whose bloodied corpses were found the next morning?

Emily: No. I mean…

Emily stopped reading, frightened. She looked up at Sarah's eyes and whispered "…_Him_!"

Sarah's eyes widened. They actually _saw_ Jareth? In the flesh? Her hair stood up and she shivered, the library suddenly felt cold. Sarah had to clamp a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming as the lights…suddenly flickered off once…and then back on. _He was here._

MJ didn't notice anything unusual, and continued reading both parts.

MJ: Him who? Miss Willow, who did you see?

The lights turned off again, on, off, on…..

"Uhhhh, guys?" Sarah forced herself to say out loud. Her voice came out barely more than a whisper as she looked around them.

MJ: Let the record show that Miss Willow is pointing to the back of the courtroom…._and screaming._

Again the lights flickered, off, on, off, on, off, on….

Emily cut in, "M-maybe we should g-give it a rest for t-today…."

The lights went out.

MJ: Miss Willow, please sit down!

The lights came back on. Sarah felt colder.

"MJ…" Sarah tried again, her voice is a little stronger. Her legs were ice cold, holding her still…

The lights went out and this time the blackout was longer than the other flickers. He was getting closer. Sarah could feel him, she felt his eyes on her…Sarah's breathing started coming in frantic pants. What was she going to do? What COULD she do?!

_He has no power over me! HE HAS NO POWER OVER ME!_ Sarah thought desperately. Sarah tried to run but was unable to. She found that her legs were frozen to the floor, just like in the forest of that strange vision she had in the locker...

MJ: Miss Willow, what are you doing?!

The lights came on again.

"MARY-JANE!" Sarah screamed loudly at her, her voice stronger than ever. Why didn't the librarian notice? Then she felt it…

A gloved hand gently brushed down her spine…

Physical. Real.

MJ: Oh my god, someone stop her! She's going to-

Sarah couldn't move her legs but she COULD move her arms! With no more time left to waste, she leaned out of reach of Jareth's hands and slammed the book shut an inch from MJ's nose!

The fluorescent lights dimmed slightly….and then buzzed as the power comes back on in full force.

Sarah sighed with relief…until she heard a ghostly chuckle behind her.

_"Nice try Sarah, but that won't stop me. "_ He whispered in her ear.

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Cliffhanger! Sorry. But not sorry. How else am I supposed to get you guys to review? *Evil Laugh* Now your reviews will all be mine! MINE!

No reviews, no new chapters. Easy math ^_^ I think Stan theman12120 has set a new bar for everyone. 10 new reviews for this AMAZINGLY juicy chapter that I wrote ya and I will release the next chapter. And you have no right to get mad about it either.! How else will we authors have a little fun? lol! ;) Love ya'll! Don't go reading strange books about cults, ya hear?


	13. Chapter 13: Flashback 2

Hey guys! The last chapter definitely got some controversial reviews (Which I'm grateful for because it helps me know what the reader want) some people mentioned that I don't have Jareth in this story enough (I can totally relate, since I love juicy Jareth scenes as much as anyone! ) other mentioned that I shouldn't demand so much reviews before updating, otherwise I may eventually not get any.

I kind of want to address these two issues. The first one is the issue of Jareth not being in this story enough. In the back of my mind he's in practically EVERY chapter, because he's some powerful being that none of the gang members truly understand. But I can see how that's not as apparent to you guys at is to me, the writer. I personally want Jareth in a lot, but I'm struggling with the balence of what he and Sarah mean to each other. It's hard writing him as a monster (because to me, he's not a monster, he's just misunderstood) and at the same time, not ruin the ending of this story. So I have to hide his motives and personality in sunlight and shadow. Which makes me just not write him at all for most of the story XD And I'm sorry about that.

To be honest I wasn't even going to include him in the next chapter after the library scene, but I realized that would have pissed a lot of people who were left hanging on the Jareth cliff-hanger and then not to get any Jareth time would be cruel of me. Thus, I decided to put this chapter in between to give everyone some glimpses of him as well as a little more back story.

As for the reviews, I only raised it to 10 because the last chapter was pretty intense (or at least I thought so) and I wanted to catch up on the reviews. AND YOU GUYS DID NOT DISAPPOINT! Lol, I think I got more reviews on that chapter than any other.

So sit back and enjoy this next chapter that I've made special for all you people who reviewed. Thank you!

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**Chapter 13: Flashback 2**

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10 years ago...

At the house in the woods, twigs and leaves and dirt crunched underfoot as Sarah stepped out into the clearing. She pauses for a moment, almost as if waiting for something, before turning back the way she came with a smile on her face.

"See? It's right where we said." She boasted, her little hand proudly gesturing to the sunlit clearing.

"Holy crud..." Dan's mouth dropped open. Sarah's mint green eyes crinkled in a big excited smile. It felt satisfying to make Dan speechless for once.

"You guys were _for real_?!" Sean said appearing by Dan's side, his little eyes opening wider than usual. He stepped into the clearing and then stopped, hesitant to go further. "Woah..."

"Told you so!" Jess exclaimed as she came tripping out of the woods with a tumble and bumble. Graceful as a new baby deer. She was wearing her favorite robin blue sundress, a triumphant "Hmph!" coming from her mouth as she readjusted herself and brushed a couple of leaves out of her long ruby hair. "Guess you boys owe us a lollipop!" Her little nose scrunched up in a smirk of victory and she stuck her little hands on her hips as she tried to be sassy like the older girls she saw on t.v.

Taylor and Luke came up from behind her, and Taylor was still scowling. He had been scowling since more than an hour ago when Sarah had convinced them to come with her and Jess.

"I still don't like this." He looked over at the stone ruins suspiciously.

Sarah rolled her eyes. Taylor worried too much. He was only 1-year older than the rest of them anyways, so she wasn't going to let him boss her around like he did Jess. At first glance, you couldn't tell that he and Jessica were related. His short brown hair was nothing like Jess's long "Ariel" hair, but when the trees branches allowed a bit of sunlight to sneak through, you could glimpse a slight red sheen mixed with the brown.

"Wow! This is incredible! I didn't think you were telling the truth!" Luke breathed, adjusting the dark rimmed glasses on his little 1st-grader face. His eyes and mouth were open in wonder. MJ came out of the dense forest next. Her afro-black hair that had little pigtail-loop braids (complete with little yellow bows) looked odd with the sleeveless black leather jacket she wore. She looked caught between cute and punk.

"Aww, man! Is this where the monster grabbed you?!" MJ turned to Jess excitedly.

"Yeah, it was right in that door there." Jessica pointed to the decrepit stone house. The two stone pillars framed the dark open doorway, where Sarah had entered the first time. Since she had walked through it; the magnetic force that made objects float had not come back.

Everyone was silent for a moment, watching the ruins for any sign of life, as faint sounds of Stacey and Emily, who had been at the back of the group, made their way to the rest of them. They watched the house intently. But the grey stone didn't do anything except sit there like normal ruins. The sun shown down into the clearing and the trees gently moved in the breeze. A couple of butterflies flitted about the beautiful pink Rhododendron and Camellia flowers that spotted the grass here and there. It was peaceful. It would have been perfect if there hadn't been that strange tree growing up into the side of the house like a serpent.

It grew around the side of the house, emerging out and going BACK though the cavities where the windows should be, like it had changed it's mind about the direction it wanted to go. Almost as though the tree and stone house were in a battle, and the tree was winning. It was disconcerting.

"COOOOOL!" MJ's smiled brightly, breaking their concentration.

Everyone turned as Stacey stepped out of the woods with a pout. Her blonde hair was a little ratty and covered in woodstuff and she had a painful red scratch on her arm. "Ugh, why do we always have to play in the woods? Can't we just play Barbies at my house or something for once?"

"Barbies?! Ew. No. Never. No way." Dan shuddered, with exclamations of the same from the other 8-year old boys.

Stacey gave a huff as Emily finally emerged from the woods, the smallest and shortest of the gang. Emily stopped and stared at the ruins with wide brown eyes. Her soft curly brown hair was styled with pigtails with little blue bowties, almost like MJ's. She and Stacey had been completely against it since the beginning, moaning and groaning the whole walk there. Only MJ and the boys had wanted to see the monster.

"So what exactly happened again?" Luke spoke up. His light brown hair was combed back into it's perfect hairstyle and his clothes were much nicer than anyone else's in the gang. Both his parents were doctors.

"Well," Sarah gestured to the ruins, "Jess and I went through the door and then, uh, the Goblin King, tried to suck us in like a big vacume."

"Wait! Goblin King? How do you know it's _name_?" Stacey looked suspicious.

"Uh, well, I asked. And he scratched it out on the floor." Sarah partly told the truth.

"And then he stole my necklace!" Jessica said, pouting angrily. "And he _still_ hasn't given it back!" She glared over at the ruins accusingly.

"Ahhh, that's so creepy!" MJ laughed, "I love it!"

Emily however had the opposite reaction and gave a shiver.

"Don't worry Em, there's nothing to be afraid of!" Jessica leaned over and put a short pale arm around her.

Emily turned to looked up at her in disbelief, "Uh, the monster grabbed you, stole your necklace, and tried to drag you underground! That's definitly something to be afraid of!" Emily trembled.

Jessica rolled her eyes and huffed, "That was just the FIRST time we came here, Emily! He's been really nice since then! I promise..."

"WHAT?! You guys have come here MORE than once!" Taylor gaped like an angry fish, then turned to glare at Sarah even more, knowing it was likely her fault.

Sarah wasn't cowed and glared back at Taylor. He was such a stick in the mud sometimes and was WAY overprotective of his sister. Nothing was going to happen! This was their 5th time visiting Jareth.

The rest of the group eyed Jessica and Sarah with even greater interest and surprise.

"Uh, Ok then! Cool. We came, we saw it. Now let's go before that monster comes out and grabs us!" Stacey said.

Dan fidgeted his feet a little, then asked curiously, "So, why is his name the Goblin King? Does he, uh, look like a Goblin?"

Jess and Sarah share a glance, and Jess bit her lip as she tried not to smile. She was worse at keeping secrets than Sarah was, and Sarah was already pretty bad at it.  
"Uh," she finally looked at the group, "he told us to call him that. He looks like a nor-...like a n-... like a man."

Sarah knew what Jessica had wanted to say but couldn't. Jess had wanted to say 'normal man' but there wasn't anything _normal_ about Jareth. He was the opposite of normal. He was made of stars and dust. Dreams and wishes were under his command. His clothes, his hair, his eyes, his voice...

Jess continued, pulling Sarah from her thoughts, "But he is the KING of the goblins! He has tons of goblins at his castle and..."

"Goblins? Coooooool!" MJ, balanced on her toes excitedly. The rest of the kids look at MJ warily especially Taylor.

"No, MJ! Not cool!," he threw his arms in the air, "Goblins are never good in the stories!"

"Yeah, like Spiderman versus the Green Goblin!" Sean added, touching Taylor's arm excitedly.

"Oh! I love that comic book!" Dan said, getting into it.

Taylor smiled, forgetting momentarily about the point he had been making, "Yeah! Me too! Especially that part when-"

Both Sarah and Jessica grimaced a little. They were getring off track here.

"Don't worry Taylor!" Jessica pouted at him, interupting, " Sarah was here to protect me. The Goblin King listens to Sarah."

"Ew! There's a dead bird over here!" Emily's voice sounded from nearby, "This place is weird. I want to leave!" She pouted.

"No way! Let's go in there and kick that thing's butt!" Sean said, puffing out his little 8 year old chest and scrunching his face which only made his tiny eyes even smaller. He smacked a fist into his hand, trying to look tough.

"No, the Goblin King is our friend!" Sarah and Jessica said, trying to calm everyone.

"No way, I'm not going in there!" Stacey said firmly, backing away.

"But what if we get Connor to come here and record it on his new camera? We could send it to those ghost hunter guys on T.V.!" Dan said, holding Stacey by the shoulders, getting excited by the idea.

"Uhhhh..." Sarah began to say, trying to figure out how to say 'no'. She didn't want anyone scaring her friend. And something told her that Jareth wouldn't take too kindly to uninvited guests.

" No way! I'm not going in a creepy hole to get eaten, _especially_ with my stupid brother." Stacey angrily shook her head no, her blond hair shaking rapidly as she stomped her foot and crossed her arms in a huff.

"Well, I-I'm not going if Stacey doesn't..." Emily softy adds.

"You guys NEVER want to do anything cool!" MJ scowls at Stacey and Emily.

A high pitched whistles suddenly pierces the air!

"TweeeeEEEEEEeeeeet!"

All argument stops.

Everyone freezes, conversation cutting off as they panic for a second. When the whistle sounds off a second time, they all turn as one towards the stone house, their eyes being drawn to the dark entrance. It looked like a black rectangle mouth.

"That's my whistle!" Jessica said eagerly, and began to walk toward the gaping doorway.

Taylor grabbed her before she got too far and said, "NO Jess! No."

"But...that's Jare-I mean, that's the Goblin King! He's making fun of me!" She balled her hands into fists and tried to struggle against her big brother.

The whistle tooted cheerfully from inside the house, as if daring the kids to go in.

"Well, that settles it. Now we're definitely not going in." Luke shook his head, decided.

"What? Why?" Jessica and Sarah ask at the same time like Siamese twins.

"Uh, 'cause it's obviously a trap!" Luke glared between the two little girls, obviously questioning their sanity.

"Exactly!" Stacey said.

"Dang it... you guys are right..." MJ realized, dejectedly. She visibly drooped.

"But...but you guys!" Sarah whines, trying one more time, "It's actually really cool! There's fairies, and dwarves, and Fireys!"

"What's a Firey?" Emily asked, hesitantly.

"They're these dog, uh, fox?...looking...things that dance and sing and can take off their heads!" Sarah uses her hands as she tries to describe the creatures. She doesn't mention that they had tried to take off her head too.

_They were just being playful,_ she reasoned._ Besides, Jareth was with us. He wouldn't let anything happen._

"And there's Goblins! HUNDREDS of Goblins! And they love to play!" Jessica piped in turning her pleading eyes to the group. She was always so much better at that than Sarah, "Come on guys!"

The high pitch toot of the whistle rises and falls over the clearing once more, breaking the spell.

Jess scowls, her face reddening as the mocking whistle continues. She stomps her feet, "Give me back my whistle, Goblin King!"

Her brother held her firm.

"_Screw you_ Goblin King!" Taylor yelled at the house. "We're not coming in."

Sarah got mad, "Don't talk to him like that, Taylor!"

"Come on guys," he pushed past Sarah roughly, "we're leaving!"

As they all turn to go, the whistle suddenly died down and the young kids heard a different sound. A voice...from inside.

"..._Wait_...

As they all glance back in surprise, something tiny flies from the house at them! It bounces off of Jessica's chest, and lands in her tiny hands.

"My whistle!" Jess shrieks happily and begins to bounce up and down with glee. "He finally gave it back!"

"...I'm sorry, Jessica..." A dissonant voice was heard from the direction of the house.

"_Dude_!" Dan said in utter shock to hear 'the ghost' talk.

Luke's mouth also gaped open, "What kind of monster apologizes?"

Sarah frowned. It sounded like him. But it was different. As Sarah and Jess had come back multiple times, Jareth had begun to speak with more and more clarity. Now? His voice seemed to be a little abnormal like in the beginning.

"Jar...Goblin King! Why are you talking like that?" Sarah had to ask, a little upset.

"Sh-should we... talk to it?" Sean asked, nervous but curious.

Everyone looked at each other, unsure.

Sarah stepped forward, knowing that he would talk to her, " Hello Goblin King! I've brought my friends to meet you! But don't scare anyone, it's rude...and you should talk normal!" She said, a little annoyed.

An amused ghostly chuckle is all the response she gets.

"G-goblin King!" Taylor says, looking toward the house warily, "Why did you try to grab Jessica?"

"..._ I'm sorry..._." Jareth repeated, and then added, "...very alone..."

Sarah started to get upset. Jareth wasn't talking right!

"Aww, he sounds sad." Dan says, his eyebrows furrowing.

"He's...lonely!" Emily says, feeling more courageous and steps forward.

Stacey is the only one not convinced. She scoffs, "Oh yeah, _that's_ not weird! You guys are so gullible! I can't believe you just-"

But before Stacey could finish, a gust of golden leaves blew through the clearing!

"G-guys! What is that?!" Emily asked, eyes wide.

A small sparkly golden light flits toward the group of young children like a humble-bee. Chirping noises come from the creature as it circles them. Jessica recognizes it immediately.

"It's a fairy!" She says excitedly.

"No _frikkin way_!" gasps Sean.

A great sense of awe comes over the whole group as the fairy flits up to them. The children get the biggest, dumb-struck expressions on their faces.

"...Wow!" Luke said, adjusting his glasses as the fairy came up to his face. It twittered at him in an unknown language before quickly moving to the next child.

"Are you guys seeing what I'm seeing?" MJ said in awe.

"The Goblin King sent us a fairy!" Jessica smiled, looking over at her brother triumphantly, drinking in his expression.

Taylor looked as enthralled as the rest of the gang. His eyes glaze over with the incredible magic of it all, and he reached a finger out to touch the floating pixie in wonder.

"Careful! They bite!" Jess warned, smacking his hand away. "I got bit my first time." She held out her little finger to the group. A barely visible mark gleamed a little as she turned it this way and that in the sun.

"Uhh? It bites?!" Emily says worriedly, and when the fairy flits up to her face, she backs away. "Why does it bite? I don't like this..."

"Are you kidding? This is so cool!", Dan beamed over at Sarah and Jess, "Can we go inside now?"

The fairy came up to Sarah and Jess last and started chirping excitedly. She was wearing a tiny fragile dress, no shoes, and had adorable pointy ears. Her wings sparkled like gossamer. And...

"Uhh, hi?" Sarah said, not sure what it wanted.

It zipped off above them into the trees with a flurry of glitter.

Everyone stared after it for a moment or two.

"That was...AMAZING!" Stacey squealed, completely unafraid now.

"Yeah! Magic!", Sean said, torn between disbelief and joy.

" I still don't know..." sad Emily, searching above them for that fairy. She turned to look at the group, " the Goblin King may seem cool, but we should be careful. We don't know anything about him!"

"But _I _want to be friends with him!" MJ whined, sad.

Sarah turned to the group. These were all her friends, "Let's make a deal! We'll all come back tomorrow. But we'll be careful and stick together. "

"That's a good rule, Sarah! We only play with the Goblin King if _everyone's_ ok with it!" Sean agreed, excited.

"That way we can watch out for each other!" Luke nodded.

"Sounds good to me. Everyone agree?" Stacey asked the group, " Nobody visits the Goblin King alone?" She looked over at Sarah specifically.

Sarah frowned a little. What if she wanted to visit Jareth alone one day when she's bored? What if not everyone wants to come and she does?

"I dont know..." Sarah hesitated.

"That's the deal Sarah. Take it or leave it." Taylor said, crossing his arms and frowning.

Everything was still. Almost as if there was a tension in the air. A tingle. Sarah looked over at Jess and knew she could feel it too. Sarah sighed. If she didnt do this, the group wouldn't play with Jareth. And it wouldnt be as fun with just her and Jess. Jareth wouldn't mind if she changed the rules _a little bit, _she reasoned.

Finally she aquiesced, "Yeah, ok. Everyone plays together."

"Agreed!" smiled Emily.

"Yes! Jare...I-I mean, the Goblin King needs friends!" Jessica clapped her hands. She turned to Taylor, worried about what he's say.

Taylor nodded, "I think we should give the Goblin King a chance."

"Let's pound it!" MJ said.

As the group put their fists together in the circle, Taylor and Sarah locked eyes. He nodded to her and smiled in apology. Sarah smiled back. All was forgiven. Jessica, noticing the peace made between her best friend and brother, smiled and scrunched up her face with glee, making her freckles pop. She clutched her whistle in her tiny hand tightly.

"Sweet! Back to my house for lunch? My mom's making grilled mac 'n cheese!" Dan announced.

_Mmm! My favorite! _Sarah thought hungrily.

MJ clasped her hands, eyes wide with hunger, "Oh man! We gotta go! Your mom makes it with hot dog pieces!", she started heading back into the woods, pulling Dan with her. All the kids laughed at her enthusiasm. All the stress and tension were gone out of everyone's faces and the trip back was a much happier ordeal than the trip there.

As the group turned to head home, Jess called back over her shoulder "Goodbye Goblin King! We'll come back and play with you again tomorrow!"

The fairy's amber eyes glowed from above in the shadow of a tree as it watched the group amble through the green forest, back the way they had come.

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Oooooh, glowing eyes? Yikes! Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, always changing the rules. Sad thing is she didn't even know it! She was just a little kid! How could she know? Her parents should have taught her better ;) JK. If any of you are wondering why all these kid's parents are letting them run around without supervision...I was wondering that too as I wrote it! Haha!


	14. Chapter 14: Feathery and Furry Friends

Wow! Thank you all for the reviews and follows and favorites! It's good to hear about what I can do better and what you guys are looking for. I know you'll probably hate this chapter after all the excitement of Jareth's almost appearance. But it's all part of the story that I must follow. What? You thought I controlled the story? Puh-lease. If I DID then all the chapters would include Jareth! ^_^ But something I like to remind myself is that even though you don't see him, doesn't mean he's not there...

Don't know if that comforts you guys or freaks you out. It should probably freak you out...

On with the show!

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Chapter 12

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Sarah couldn't help herself. Legs finally seeming to work, she whirled around wildly to face where he was standing...

And there he was. Standing like a fallen angel. Majestic.

Sarah gasped and stepped back, towards MJ and Emily as her eyes soaked in every fearful detail of him. With one fist on his hip and the other lazily at his side, his hair was in its usual disarray. His clothes weren't black as they had been in the forest in her vision, but rather more white and tannish cream colored that was open to his chest. He wasn't just a bunch of black smoke now; he was flesh and blood. And he just dripped sensuality. Like a dangerous spider, an anglerfish, or a venus flytrap he drew her in.

**REAL.**

Just like he had been in his Labyrinth. At least, he looked flesh and blood... Could it be an illusion?

Without realizing what she was doing, one of her hands had shakily raised up to touch him... but the moment she realized what she was doing she brought her hand back to her in shocked embarrassment. He gave her a giant smirk and winked at the girls behind her. Sarah could only imagine what they looked like.

And then he was gone. Winked out of existence.

The girls collectively gasped. Of everything he could do, they definitely were not expecting that.

Sarah's mouth gaped like a fish confused and terrified...and curious. What was going to happen now? They looked around the room, certain that he was going to do something horrible.

But there was nothing. Just a cold pocket of air that seemed to be where Jareth once stood. It entered the girls' lungs as they breathed in, making their throat and lungs freeze with fear.

"_Be patient precious._.."

**That** wasn't her imagination. Disbelief flooded her as she continued searching for any sign of him in the library, which had returned to normal without any strange flickers. She shivered, trying to take in more than just shaky breaths. She felt a mixture of relief, confusion, shock and...mostly confusion.

_And a hint of disappointment? No! Of course not._

Sarah finally succumbed to her legs that shook like jello and she knelt down onto the floor, trying to gain some sort of balance. She grasped onto the wooden table for support.

That thing...Jareth... had been so close. And she hadn't even talked to him!

She didn't know how long she knelt there but, eventually, she was aware of Emily shaking her and smacking her gently on the cheeks. Her tearful voice finally reached Sarah`s preoccupied brain and speech finally reached her conscious:

"Sarah! Oh my gosh, Sarah! Sarah, are you ok?"

Sarah looked over at Emily's tear-streaked face as the frightened girl continued to blubber, "I-I can't believe it was him! I-I saw him! WE saw him! After all these years...!" Emily broke down and cried, hugging Sarah there on the floor.

Sarah blinked, "Uhh, don't worry, Emily. Don't worry. It'll...It'll all be alright." Sarah heard herself murmur mechanically as she patted Emily's back. Sarah wasn't sure if her words were true, but it just felt like the right thing to say. Right? Especially since Emily was shaking like a leaf. That's what you're supposed to do in cases like these, right? She'd always done the same for Toby on dark windy nights when he was scared, but... but who was going to hold Sarah when SHE was scared?

Sarah looked up from where she and Emily sat on the commercially carpeted floor, to see MJ's dark skin looking paler than usual. Sarah began to come back to herself as she glared at MJ angrily, remembering who caused all this.

"You know," Sarah growled and attempted to stand, "generally when the lights start flickering, that's a damn good sign you should **STOP READING ALOUD FROM THE _CREEPY BOOK_!**" she finished in a yell, making MJ flinch.

"Shhh!"

The girls all turned to see Mrs. Pike, the librarian, giving them an ugly glare from behind her glasses where she peeked over a thick brown book on her table.

MJ shook her head and trembled a little as they all focused back on each other, "I-I'm sorry, Sarah. But...it was _him!" _she whispered, shocked.

"Yeah, no kidding!" Sarah seethed as she balled her fists, trying to keep herself from grabbing MJ and shaking her. Then all the fight went out of her and she sighed, calming down, "Whatever that was…it was close." She turned to help Emily stand up and over to a chair.

"No, I mean… back then! The trial! Think about it. Creepy entity lives in the woods, worshipped by a crazy cult…"

_Jareth._

Sarah nodded, and grimly added, "And that would make _two_ mass murders in Westchester, in the same woods, within a hundred years of one another."

It was official. They were in over their heads.

She sat down at the wooden table with MJ and Emily, who was quiet and staring around the room with wide eyes. Sarah watched her, worried a little. Out of everyone in the group, Emily had always been the most fragile. She wished she could spare her this. ALL of this.

Sarah had to ponder the implications... Why hadn't Jareth taken them? Taken _her_? He had the power obviously. Was that what this was all about? Was Jareth trying to show her that he had the power? That he really COULD leave the woods now? He wasn't limited to just dreams or a discombobulated voice...he now had more access to her and the rest of the population in Westchester. But what was the point in all this? Maybe this wasn't about her as she originally thought...?

"Ok, I'm officially freaked out. Can we be done for the day?" Emily finally begged.

"Definitely." Sarah agreed, then added as an afterthought, "But let's make copies of all this stuff first, so we can show the gang." She sent another glare over at MJ, "But NO READING ALOUD!"

MJ had the decency to look ashamed and nodded.

10 minutes later and they were walking out of the dusty library and into the warm sunshine of freedom. Sarah gave a deep sigh as she felt the sun kiss her skin, making the cold flee away in the warm rays of light.

"Ahhhhhh." Sarah moaned, lifting her arms up to enjoy the feeling a bit more. She could have stood there forever in that moment of eternal sunshine.

"And thus concludes our spooky scavenger hunt!" MJ said, trying to lighten the tension as she gave a tentative smile.

"Emphasis on _spooky_." Emily shivered, then allowed herself the comfort of the sun's rays as well.

"Good work guys." Sarah murmured, eyes closed in a moment of rare peace.

The girls walked down the sidewalk for a while before MJ broke the silence.

"So, uh…anybody else ready to go to sleep now?" MJ yawned.

Sarah wondered how she could possibly think of sleeping after what had just happened but then realized that she too, felt exhausted. Drained, as if she were like a battery.

"Yeah. Let's go." Sarah yawned, thinking of how nice a soft bed would be. Well, more like an air mattress on the floor that MJ had pumped up for her.

"Later, Emily. Don't get eaten by monsters. Or a bear." MJ joked.

Emily and Sarah glared at MJ's attempt to joke.

* * *

3 days later...

* * *

"Please dad, please come home. I really don't feel safe without you guys here..." Sarah gripped the phone tightly in one hand while the other hand tangled itself through her dark brown hair. "...Yes, I've locked the doors at night, but that's not the point! I've had to sleep at MJ's house because I don't feel safe...No, I've not filed a police report, but I'm with MJ and her dad and it's...but there has to be a way!" Sarah yanked her hand from her hair, accidentally yanking a few strands out. This was frustrating.

MJ, Stacey, and Emily sat on MJ's fuzzy black bed in their pajamas, cross-legged, staring in silence as she talked with her dad on the phone and paced back and forth animatedly. They had had a long over-due sleepover the night before, which was Friday, but it apparently had been one sleepover too many as MJ's dad kindly suggested that they take all future sleepovers to Sarah's house. Or anyone else's house, really. Pillow fights were loud. Especially 1:00AM pillow fights.

"Visitors are like fish," he had said jokingly to Sarah, "after 3 days, they stink."

Officer Adams wasn't a bad or mean dad. But Sarah got the message. He wanted the house back to himself. But her parents STILL weren't back!

Her dad claimed that they had a lot more work than expected on the will and property deeds and that he was up to his knees in paperwork and lawyer stuff. But Sarah suspected that it was because Irene wanted to stay in Europe a bit longer. Then again, Sarah always seemed to suspect the worse about her stepmother, which she knew wasn't fair.

Her father's voice pulled her attention back, "Sarah, it's out of my hands! I'm more than 3,000 miles away, and there's nothing I can do for you here. If you really feel in danger, talk to Officer Adams. But you really haven't given me a reason for your fear, sweetheart. Why are you so afraid?"

Sarah couldn't tell him WHY she was scared. Only that she WAS, and that should be good enough for him. Logically, it wasn't.

"I can't leave in the middle of this mess, hun. Irish law is a lot more complex than you know..." he trailed off.

She knew she was throwing a little kid tantrum, which is totally uncool for a young woman her age...but what else could she do? "You don't even care! You don't care about me, or what I'm going through! I'm all alone here while creepy things are going on around Westchester! I need you guys here!"

Her father sighed, getting frustrated, "Sarah, we asked you to come along! Remember? I told you over and over and **over again **that you should come with us. But what did you say?"

That shut Sarah up. She had told them that she was 18 now. She had told them she could take care of herself. She had told them that she wanted this opportunity to grow and be independent. She had said it over and over and practically demanded to stay until they relented and allowed their 18-year-old the opportunity to be a little grown-up. And now she was doing exactly what they thought she might do; not succeed.

_ But it isn't my faul_t! She thought to herself, _I didn't know when they left that I would have to defend everyone against a paranormal entity that would stop at nothing until...until..._

Taking her silence as confirmation he continued, "Honey, I'm sorry you're feeling so nervous. This is a normal part of independence. Being alone in a house for a night just babysitting Toby is fine. Being alone in a house for more than a month? It's scary, I know. But if you need anything, go to Mark's. He's a good guy."

"Fine." Sarah muttered, defeated. What else could she say? There's a Goblin King that may or may not want to drag me away to the underground and he's come back from being A-wall for 10 years since he killed my best friend Jessica for some unknown reason. Yeah, remember her? So, he kidnapped Dan and put him into a coma and now we don't know WHAT he's up to! Will you please come home so I don't have to deal with this anymore?

_Yeah. Sure._

They exchanged a few more words, before Mr. Williams had to hang up the phone. International calls weren't cheap.

Sarah sighed, and turned to the girls all gazing up at her, "I guess I better go home and nail the windows shut."

MJ was currently levitating a green pen in the air above her hand and was twirling it. Her telekinetic powers had grown stronger these past three days, much to Sarah's chagrin. But it had been hilarious when she had shown the gang. Sarah should have got it on video with all the freaked out reactions.

"Don't worry Sarah," MJ said, glancing from her floating pen over to Sarah's strung-out form, "nothing's gone on in the past 3 days and there has been no sign of you-know-who. Pour salt on your window. It might work."

"Might?" Stacey looked over at MJ skeptically; glossy blond cornrows in her hair from where MJ had been practicing the other night.

MJ shrugged, focusing on twirling her pen in midair again.

Stacey turned to Sarah and sighed, "I'm sorry Sarah! I wish you could stay at my place!" Apparently Mayor Green had a rule against girls spending the night while Connor was in town. Sarah wouldn't have wanted to run into him in the hallway while in her towel anyways.

_...or would I? _

Sarah gave her brain a mental smack.

"It's ok, Stace. I just need to borrow some iron and I'll shove it down the throat of any fae who try to come into my room again." Sarah put her hands on her hips and forced a grin onto her face.

"How about a curling iron?" Emily smiled shyly, lifting up the one she brought last night for hair-styling.

That started a whole new laughing spree that made Sheriff Adams, who was downstairs, cover his ears.

The girls ate a loud and happy breakfast (some pieces of food may have been thrown), and then said their good-byes as they headed off in their different directions.

Emily and Sarah continued down the road and out of town since Emily lived somewhat nearby although not really. Emily just didn't want Sarah to be alone, which Sarah thought was sweet.

The trees were beautiful and the sun shined through their green curtains in the way that Sarah loved so much as they walked along the highway's curvy road in high spirits.

"I have to admit, even with everything that's going on… it's nice to be hanging out with everyone again." Emily smiled hesitantly up at Sarah, brushing back her curly brown hair from the slight breeze.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Sarah grinned. The gang had all gotten together every day after school to hang out. The incident in the library had been discussed at length by the whole group, but it was put to the side as they ended up doing what teens usually do and just enjoyed themselves. At first, it was to make plans on how to defeat the Goblin King. But now, it was just because they all liked the company. Strength in numbers, as Taylor would say.

She took a deep breath of the fresh air. The forest looked warm and inviting with the trees waving friendly in the wind as the forest creatures chattered amongst themselves.

Emily's phone buzzed suddenly. She pulled it from her pocket, and her face brimmed with a tentative joy that she struggled to contain.

"Who's that?" Sarah asked curiously.

"It's Britney! We're, uh, trying to decide where we want to go out to eat!" She typed excitedly on her phone.

Sarah frowned. Britney had continued to be suspiciously friendly to Emily the whole week.

"Uh, Emily? Are you **sure** about being her friend? I mean, I'm glad to see her treating you so nicely now…but Britney's _awful_! She's been a jerk to you, but you have no idea what she's done to other people..." Sarah desperately wanted to tell her about Stacey's blackmail.

"She's not _always_ like that." Emily defended, but then backtracked, "….Or at least she didn't _use_ to be. Before she went and got popular."

"You used to be friends?" Sarah asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah. _Best friends_, actually." Emily sighed and looked up at Sarah. "We were in Brownie Scouts together, and we lived on the same block, so we used to carpool a lot. I got picked on by the other girls, and she liked having an excuse to hit people, so we just kinda… I don't know. Clicked!"

"Hit people? Hmm. Sounds more like Jocelyn." Sarah growled, rubbing her head even though it didn't hurt at all. She softened though, as she saw Emily's expression, "Sounds like you guys were close." She nodded sympathetically.

Emily's face lit up, "Yeah, super close! We both loved to…."

But Emily's words trailed off…. as something huge came rumbling up behind them. Sarah glanced over her shoulder with wide-eyes... and came face-to-face with—

Cody.

A red flashy convertible rolled up alongside the two girls. Jocelyn lounged in the passenger seat with a piece of white tape on her nose, confirming that it had indeed been broken. She had been absent from school the day after MJ broke it. Cody sat behind the wheel.

"Hey, check it out, it's the freak parade!" Cody smirked evilly, happy at catching them alone.

Jocelyn found it hilarious, as always, "Hahaha!" her broken nose made her laugh sound congested.

Even though Britney seemed to have turned a new leaf, her two friends hadn't. If anything, it made them even more angry against Emily and the others for somehow turning their friend.

Lack of sleep had made Sarah more snarky than usual, "Oh, look Emily! It's a rolling red dumpster taking the trash out. What's up guys?" She smiled sweetly at them, knowing it would rile them up.

"Just ignore them…" Emily glared, pulling at Sarah's jacket arm, and kept walking.

They both tried to pick up the pace, but Cody simply stepped on the accelerator, matching the car's pace with theirs. Sarah had a super bad feeling about this…

"What's the hurry, kiddos?"

"What do you want?" Sarah growled at him.

"Haven't you dorks heard? There's a bear on the prowl." he waggled his eyebrows.

"Roar!" Jocelyn smirked.

"We saw you walking and just thought we'd give you a lift." Cody smiled, putting on a friendly act.

"Yeah, sure." Sarah rolled her eyes, clearly not buying it for a minute.

"How dumb do you think we are?" Emily asked them, glancing at Sarah for reassurance.

"What's the matter? We're all friends here. Hop in!" Cody twitched the wheel towards them, nudging them off the side of the road.

"Knock it off!" Sarah growled, beginning to lose her patience.

"It's not me! It's the car!" Cody laughed, as he swerved the wheel towards them again.

"Aaah! Stop it!" Emily gasped as the car door thumped_ hard_ against her shoulder, practically pushing her over as Cody swerved towards them yet again.

_That DOES IT!_

"HurrAAAgggh!" Sarah growled as she wrapped her hand in her hoodie sleeve and slammed her fist into Cody's mirror!

_CRACK!_

White cracks exploded across the glass as her covered fist made contact, distorting the image.

"Hey, _what the hell?!_" Cody yelled, eyes wide and mouth open, shocked that the normally pacifying Sarah had the audacity...

Sarah smirked, proud of herself….and then her smirk died on her face as the brake lights flashed red and both doors burst open. Cody and Jocelyn stepped furiously out onto the black asphalt road.

"This is a brand new car!" Cody bellowed, furious.

Sarah ignored the warning bells in her head that told her to not antagonize them and yelled back, "YEAH?! Well then, maybe you shouldn't be using it to _HIT_ people!"

"Oh, don't worry. I can think of a few _other _ways to hit you." Cody pounded a fist into his other hand, menacingly.

But before she could blink, Jocelyn had come up to her unawares and, catching her off guard, shoved her. Sarah felt herself grasping air in her fingers as she fell back over the side of the road. Luckily it was just a ditch on the side that she fell into, but it was a little steep as she tumbled into the bushes below.

"Ooof!" Sarah wheezed as she found herself on her back, covered in dust and leaves while wedged in the bushes. Instead of being shocked out of her wits like when Jocelyn had smashed her skull against a locker last week...Sarah Marie Williams was PISSED.

Cody laughed in surprise. He gave Jocelyn a high-five and then they laughed at Sarah's belligerent expression peeking from the bushes.

"Sarah!" Emily cried as she began to try to find a way down to her.

"I'm fine Emily, don't come down." Sarah huffed and coughed in the dust she had stirred up. She tried to pull herself from the entangling branches.

Emily turned to the two laughing teenagers, angrily, "You two b-better leave us alone! O-or else!"

Cody and Jocelyn's eyebrows shot up. They were quiet for a second, before looking at one another and laughing even harder.

"Or _else_?" Cody was enjoying this.

"I…I'll.." Emily looked between them nervously.

"You'll do _what_, honeybun?" Jocelyn cooed at her, mockingly. She took a step toward Emily, making her step back.

"Emily! Just go!" Sarah huffed as she struggled to climb back up the side. When she got up there, Jocelyn was going to get more than a broken nose.

_I wish..._

Emily turned to run but Cody easily cut her off.

"Oh, I'm sorry... Am I in your _way_?" He smiled charmingly, an evil glint in his eye.

Emily tried to dodge left. Cody went left.

Emily went right. Cody went right.

"Gosh, don't you just _hate_ it when that happens?" Cody grimaced mockingly.

"SO awkward!" Jocelyn agreed, giggling.

_I wish..._

Jocelyn and Cody closed in on Emily from both sides, laughing. Sarah was almost up the side of the ditch. She was going to put Jocelyn and Cody in the hospital, she was so mad! She was done with them!

As Emily looked back and forth, panicking…

And as Cody and Jocelyn cackled…

And as Sarah finally made it back up the ditch at last…

…at the edge of the road..._the bushes and trees _began to shake…

And something HUGE surged out of the forest!

"What the hell?!" Cody cried out,

Giant white birds exploded out of the trees! Shrieking like demons, they SLAMMED into Cody like a fist! The sudden force of it made him slam back into the side of his car!

"AAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHGHHHHHH!" He screamed. The ungodly sounds coming from Cody's throat was bone-chilling. It seemed so wrong to hear someone as big and strong as Cody creating such sounds.

Sarah and Emily could only watch in horror, not understanding what they were looking at, as birds swarmed in a cloud of white feathers. Tearing, scraping, and clawing at Cody and Jocelyn with their beaks and claws!

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhiiiiiiiieeee!" Jocelyn's painful shrieks accompanied Cody's anguished cries, as they clawed huge gashes and pecked at their unprotected skin. They both were bleeding heavily. Sarah's stomach was up in her throat, but she was too afraid to do anything.

"Joss, get in the car! GET IN THE CAR!" Cody yelled, covering his eyes. His lips, face, and hands were bleeding profusely. His hoodie all along his arms were in tatters with deep gashes, the fabric had been ripped apart.

Cody and Joss scrambled around the convertible and dived in over the doors as the birds menaced them from all sides!

"Get OFF!" Jocelyn yelled out in obvious pain. She landed one of her blows, smacking one of the birds out of the air with a back fist!

SCREEEEEEEEEEECH!

It fell to the asphalt road with a screech, wings twisting in a flutter. Sarah was finally able to recognize it's shape and face and realized that it was an owl! The huge white birds were all owls!

_Wait...what?_

Sarah couldn't believe her eyes.

_In the daytime?_

The convertible's engine roared as the car sped off….and with a rustle of wind the shrieking owls dispersed into the woods as quickly as they had come.

Sarah and Emily stood side by side, not moving as they stared off in the direction the birds and car had gone. Neither of them had been so much as _touched_ by the birds.

"Oh my gosh! Did you _see _that?" Emily asked, mouth open.

"That was….AMAZING!" Sarah felt a bubbling feeling of euphoria in her heart, "I've heard of karma, but who knew it was so speedy and efficient?!" She laughed in bewilderment, breathlessly giddy. Suddenly she felt something blowing in her dark hair. She reached up and grabbed whatever it was to bring to her face and look at it. It was a fuzzy white owl feather.

Sarah frowned for a moment. A memory was niggling at her brain.

Emily breathed, "Yeah, those crazy birds showed up right on time. It was almost like…"

Before Emily could finish her thought, Sarah heard a small sound from the road. She looked over and saw the white owl, standing there with its feathers all fluffed up, watching them fearfully with big wide eyes. It wasn't as big as the others had been, maybe a foot and a half, so it must be fairly young compared to it's companions.

"It's the owl Jocelyn smacked," Sarah said in awe, taking a step forward.

"Awww, I think he's hurt." Emily cooed.

"Come here, little guy.." Sarah said. She came closer to pick it up. She knew she shouldn't. That's, like, the first rule in the bird book: don't touch or pick up stray birds. But it looked so helpless and fragile and CUTE! It's big black eyes gazed up at her. She reached down to it.

"SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH!" the owl made a high pitched shriek that caused Sarah to jump back in fright, holding her hands to herself protectively. It jumped a few steps away before twisting its head around to look at her.

"It's ok, little guy. I won't hurt you. I promise." Sarah said softly, hesitating. She had always thought that owls had a cute little "Hoo! Hoo!" sound. The sound that owl had made sounded like something you'd hear in a nightmare. She really didn't know anything about owls and wasn't sure whether to move towards it. Images of Cody and Jocelyn's bloody faces and arms reminded her to keep her distance.

The owl stared at her, silently, studying her for a moment with its inky black eyes. Spreading its wings, the owl took off, raggedly flapping into the trees. You could tell that one of its wings was odd.

Emily sighed, "Poor thing… I hope she makes it back home."

Sarah stared after it a little while longer until finally, "Come on. Let's get going."

It didn't take much longer until they were at the familiar sight of Sarah's green yard with a pond on one side and the dark forest on the other. She looked around, suspiciously. She shouldn't be so surprised to see it exactly as she left it, but she was. She turned to say goodbye to Emily.

"I'm so sorry, Sarah!" Emily spoke up before Sarah could say anything, "I wish I could have done more...back there. I wish I wasn't so…" Tears well up in Emily's eyes and her voice shrank into a squeak.

Sarah looked out over the pond by her house, the shed, and the dark green forest beyond and thought about what she could say to comfort her.

"Emily…" She began and turned to her. "Listen to me. Being afraid doesn't make you a coward, and violence doesn't make someone brave. Jocelyn certainly seems to enjoy it…and does she strike you as someone who's particularly courageous?"

"No…" Emily sniffed.

"There are other kinds of bravery. And you don't have to prove anything to anyone... least of all, jerks like them."

She wiped her eyes on her sleeve, "But, Sarah! You're one of the bravest people I know! You smashed Cody's mirror…."

Sarah interrupted her, "Uh, honey, that's called '5 nights of very little to no sleep', not bravery… although it DID feel pretty good."

They both chuckled a little. "Thanks Sarah."

Sarah gave Emily a big hug, then waved goodbye as she started toward the house.

_I'm ready for some Mac 'n Cheese and a 13 hour nap. _

But as she crossed the yard, something caught her eye that she couldn't see earlier.

_Why is the shed door open?_

Sarah looked back for Emily, but she was gone. Looking back at the wooden shed, she weighed the risks. She was unsure if she wanted to go in without backup. Cautiously, she headed toward the white shed door and peeked around the corner, inside…

But there's no one inside except her baseball bat, dutifully christened "Deadstorm" by MJ, that she had left earlier that week when she had come by with Stacey for fresh clothes for school. And, of course, the strange black stone that Mark had found...

"Hey Deadstorm! Quit leaving the shed door open!" Sarah scolded her baseball bat, trying to give herself some false courage.

Deadstorm remained stoically silent.

"….I really need to stop talking to inanimate objects." Sarah paused and thought for a moment, "And myself." she concluded aloud.

_Oh! I almost forgot!_

Sarah reached for her backpack and took out the files from the library that MJ and Emily had decided to leave with her. She stepped inside and walked over to the dusty table while flicking on the dusty light switch to see better. She placed the files next to the black rune stone. Sarah picked it up again, feeling it's smooth glassy texture for a moment and studying the white rune before setting it down. She again wondered to herself where it came from.

…And then she heard it…

A scuffling sound, coming from outside…There was something behind the shed!

Sarah held her breath in panic as she heard sniffing…huffing breath. Was it the bear? Or worse...a firey?!

Claws scraped against the walls…testing its strength.

_I've already had enough scares for today! This isn't fair!_

Sarah swung her head around, feeling her blood freeze over as she realized...

_The door! It's wide open!_

Sarah's palms sweat. Every hair on her body stood on end.

Moving forward on the balls of her feet, she slowly reached for Deadstorm… when suddenly—

"_Bark_!"

Merlin's big fuzzy head appeared in the open door.

"MERLIN?!"

Merlin charged through the open doorway when he saw who it was, bouncing happily. Sarah sank back against the wall in a shudder of relief and slid to the floor. Merlin clambered up on top of her to lick her face.

Sarah was angry, but didn't dare push him away from her, "It was _you_ who pushed the door open! You stupid dog! You scared the crap out of me!" She grabbed his furry face with her shaky hands, trying to hold him still, "DON'T DO THAT AGAIN!"

She smiled a little as Merlin whined and tried to lay down on top of her, not caring that she was sitting against the wall on a dirty floor.

Sarah heard Mark's muffled voice sound from outside the shed…"Damn it, Merlin, how many times do I have to tell you to get outta the neighbors' shed, ya little—" Mark poked his head in, "Oh! Sarah!" He paused and then frowned in confusion, "What are you doing down there on the floor? Everything okay?"

"Yeah! I'm fine! Uh, I, uh…I thought Merlin was a bear." Sarah tried to keep Merlin from licking her face.

Mark laughed, "Heh, sorry about that. I swear, I don't know why he's so obsessed with getting' in here!"

Sarah ruffled Merlin's ears and sighed. "I do. This stupid shed is falling apart, so we get animals inside. Mice, squirrels… it's practically a zoo in here."

"Ah. Well, hey, if you're looking for another exhibit, you just reminded me of something. I'm heading outta town for about a month to visit my brother. I wanted to ask if you'd mind watching Merlin until I get back?"

_Mark's leaving too?!_

The feeling of abandonment was staggering. It started getting hard for Sarah to breathe until she realized that is was because Merlin was sitting on top of her diaphragm, forgetting that he wasn't a puppy anymore.

Sarah thought about it, and she realized that Merlin would be able to protect her from the danger better than Mark could.

That decided everything. "Sure! I'd love to! My family's going to be gone for a while, so I'd love the company!"

"Yeah, I hate to leave you here completely alone," He shrugged, looking sheepish, "So it'll be nice to have a guard dog. If you don't want him in the house during the day, I can set up a bed for him here."

"It _would_ be nice to have a guard dog around…I'd love to!" Sarah grinned.

She laughed, relieved, and hugged the huge English Shepherd on her lap.

"Great! Hear that, Merlin? You're gonna stay with Sarah for a while. How's that sound?" Mark asked. They laughed, as Merlin began to stomp around top of her. He probably had no idea what they were talking about.

"I'll bring his bed and food tomorrow before I take off in the morning. Thanks again!" Mark said as he started to leave.

"My pleasure!" Sarah pushed the lug-head off of her and stood up, brushing off the dust from her butt and the fur from her front. She whistled for Merlin and they both left the shed.

Mark and Sarah walked towards the house together as he asked her about school before veering off towards his house nearby.

Sarah looked up at her own home, feeling a bit apprehensive. Merlin had no qualms though, and ran up the front porch, ready to go inside.

Sarah laughed, feeling better, "Alright boy, alright. We're going inside. But I need to talk to you about something."

She came up beside the door and knelt down to Merlin's level. She held his huge furry head in her hands and said, "I need you to help me. There's a Goblin King who's wreaking havoc with my friends and me. I need you to go inside and make sure that the coast is clear. If there is anything odd in the house, I want you to tell me. Alright?"

Merlin stared dutifully back at her with his soulful brown eyes.

"As in...bark and growl, you know?" Sarah tried to clarify for him.

Merlin's pink tongue came out as he tried to lick her hands holding his face, and she took that as a yes. Dogs had a sense, she believed. And even if they didn't, it made her feel better to pretend.

"Alright Merlin! Lead the way!" Sarah stood up and then opened the door for him.

Merlin dashed inside like a bat out of hell, making Sarah chuckle again. She walked calmly behind him and shut the door. He loved coming inside, but never could because of Irene. She leaned against the door, with her hand on the knob just in case. Listening to Merlin sniffing all over the place. Waiting. Eventually, Merlin came back happily, not a care in the world.

"Hmmm." Sarah hummed to herself. She led him to the stairs and like she knew he would, he bound up the stairs to the second level. She walked halfway up it, while she waited again for him. But she already knew the house was empty. She could feel it. It was just her and Merlin.

After a pot of creamy mac n' cheese, Sarah headed back upstairs and climbed into bed. It was 2:00 on a Saturday, but Sarah didn't care. Merlin clambered on top of the bed spread, beside her. She wrapped her arm around him and for the first time in a week, drifted off into a warm, protected sleep.

.

* * *

Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait. Not many people were impressed with the last chapter, so I don't know how this chapter was for ya. But I already know where this story is going and I already have it practically pre-written, and it's all a matter of making it flow. Sorry that there's not as much Jareth as most would like. He'll be in the future chapters. But, it's definitely a different story than most people would imagine since he seems to always be on the sidelines. He'll get his day in the sun, or the night, I swear 3 Peace!


	15. Chapter 15: Welcome to Hogwarts, Sarah

Hey guys! Long time no see! Lots of work, and now that I'm pregnant I've been busy preparing for the new baby! Fun times! This chapter is a long one to help make up for the wait. Lots of interesting things here and I really enjoyed how this and the next two chapters have turned out! The other two chapters are ready to go, so hopefully, reviews come quickly! For all those that reviewed and have to wait, I'm sorry :) Definitely not trying to make you suffer. I had a really hard time figuring out the name for the chapter. It's full of different elements, so if the chapter name is a little odd, I will fix it. ALSO! Please let me know if there are any grammar errors XP Enjoy the chapter!

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Chapter 15:

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Sarah blinked her green eyes open to the familiar sight of her bedroom. She had woken up to this familiar and comfortable scene for most of her life and she stretched a little, giving a moan of happiness. Sleeping in your own bed does wonders for the body.

She looked over to the white and black hair blob next to her, only to get a huge puff of warm dog breath right in her face.

"Agh! Merlin! WHEW!" She holds him away at arm's length as he tries to lock her. _Yuck! Th__ere goes my relaxing morning._

She reluctantly got out of her comfy bed to get ready for school and to feed Merlin with the kibble Mark had brought over. As she walked with Merlin in the crisp morning air to the ugly brown shed, she heard a sound coming from inside…

Cautiously, she crept forward and pressed her ear against the door. A series of muffled rattles, squeaks, and thumps come from inside.

_Please be a rat and not a monster…_

Merlin perked his ears and sniffed at the door. He was just curious though, not barking which was encouraging.

Sarah hesitantly put her hand on the shed door and counted to three… then shoved open the door!

Nothing.

Sarah flipped on the light.

"SCREEEEEEEECH!" a white owl answered, staring menacingly from across the room on the wooden table.

"Aaaaaah!" Sarah yelled and jumped back.

An owl? In her shed? She stared at the little angry bundle of feathers. It was standing on the dusty work table next to her baseball bat, black stone, and other things she'd gathered.

_Wait a second…_She took a few steps closer and the white howl stepped away, one of it's wings dragging awkwardly. It was very white, with just the barest hint of cream color. It's little heart-shaped face watched Sarah warily.

"Are you the owl Jocelyn smacked? How'd you get in here?" She said to herself, looking around. Sarah didn't expect an answer or anything. She just didn't know what else to do except talk herself through odd situations. She wondered if the sound of a human voice could be calming to an animal if it's scared, or if that was just a myth.

Slowly, she took another step forward, holding out her hand. The owl puffed up, glaring at her suspiciously and clicked it's sharp beak unhappily. Remembering what had happened to Jocelyn and Cody, she put her hand down.

"It's ok, little guy." _I should give it a snack._

Digging through her schoolbag, she found the little bag of trail mix she had packed for lunch, "Hungry?"

The young owl simply watched her. She came forward slowly to set a peanut onto the table.

Sarah was beyond excited as she stepped away and the owl cautiously hopped forward and snatched the peanut. It cocked it's head at her before ruffling it's feathers.

Sarah thought of the absurdity of this moment. Of course, when you live next to the woods you're bound to see an owl once in a while. But this was her first time interacting with one. They're supposed to be nocturnal.

She laughed nervously, "Looks like we've got a new friend, Merlin! What should we call him?"

The owl gazed at Sarah with it's pitch black eyes.

_Her._

Sarah stared at the owl. The owl stared back. She got the feeling that it was a _female_ owl.

"Or...Her? Uh, do you have a name or shall I give you one?" She said, watching the bird cautiously. She wondered if this was a trick of Jareth's. What were the odds of this bird coming to her and NOT being one of Jareth's? It was obviously one of the birds at the accident with her and Emily. And that kind of stuff doesn't happen without magic.

The owl, of course, says nothing in response. Sarah allows herself to smirk. Even if the owl c_ould_ understand, she would probably be wondering why this human girl is talking to dogs and owls…or inanimate baseball-bats for that matter.

Merlin wagged his tail and came up to the table to sniff at the owl. The owl hissed at him in the strangest hiss Sarah's ever heard, almost like a demented snake, and clicked its beak in a warning. She is reminded again that she doesn't know much about owls since she had no idea they made such creepy noises before.

"It's alright, owl. It's alright, Merlin won't hurt you." Sarah scratched the dog behind the ears.

She looked at the owl's wing, which was a little bent, and worried that Jocelyn hurt it really bad. But it got here, didn't it? It must still be able to fly. Sarah looked up around the shed and found a large opening in the top right corner. The owl must have come in through there.

"Poor thing. Your wing looks a little painful." She cooed to it. "Want me to take a look?" The owl clicked it's beak menacingly.

"Ok, that's a definite _no_, then." She wouldnt have known how to heal a wing anyways, or what to look for. Suddenly she remembered why she came in here and looked at her watch with a gasp,"Shoot! I'm late!"

She put a handful of trail mix on the table in case the owl wanted more. And with that, Sarah turned and headed back to the door. "Bye, Merlin! Don't eat our visitor!"

Sarah looked back and the owl and dog were both staring at each other, sizing each other up. It was so odd having such a magnificent bird in such a drab shed.

"Thank you for yesterday," She nodded at the owl. "If not for you guys… who knows what Cody and Jocelyn would have done."

Obviously, the owl doesn't respond…cause it's an owl. And Sarah closed the shed door behind her, puzzling over this mysterious bird and wondering what else was in store for her today.

* * *

After a long day of school and pile of homework stuffed into her backpack later...Sarah joined the excited crowd of high schoolers heading to watch the first basketball game of the season. The sun was setting, casting beautiful hues of purples, oranges, and pinks as she looked around, not really listening to the cacophony of students yelling and laughing, while keeping an eye open for one of her friends. The students seemed a lot more excited for this game than normal. She spied Stacey outside the front doors with the rest of the cheer squad; jumping up and down with 2 frenchbraids in her long hair and waving pom-poms into the faces of the people who walked in.

"Hey Stace!" Sarah called as she reached her.

"Hey Sarah! Ready to watch the Westchester Wolves totally **destroy** the Anderton Cougars?" she hooted and shook her blue and white pom-poms in Sarah's face.

Sarah chuckled as she brushed the pom-poms away, "You know it! We're going to crush them!" She paused, thinking, "It's weird because 90% of the time I really hate this school. But right now…"

Stacey grinned, "Right now you kinda want to go find someone from Anderton High and tell them how Westchester is ten times better than their dumb school?!"

Sarah laughed, "Yeah, kinda! Is that weird? It keeps occurring to me that this is my very last year to be a 'wolf', you know?"

Stacey shook her pom-poms. "Yup! And getting you pumped up for the game means I'm just doing my job! GO WOLVES!" Her blond braids wave around as she bounces up and down.

"Have you seen Sean at all today?" Sarah glanced around briefly as she searched for a jersey in the crowd.

Stacey smirked, mischievously, "Yup! Based on his face during warm-ups... I'd say he's running on, like, 70% excitement and 30% terror."

Sarah laughed, "Well, I can understand why. It's his first time on the team! But there's no reason to be nervous, he's just a stand-in if someone gets hurt, right?"

Stacey stared at her strangely.

"What?"

"You haven't heard?"

Sarah's puzzled, "Heard what?"

"About Ben?"

"Huh?"

Stacey looks at Sarah like she's grown two heads, "How could you not have heard, Sarah?! Everyone at school has been talking about it! They even announced it over the intercom!"

"I was late this morning dude. Just tell me! What haven't I heard?"

"Ben got attacked by a bear yesterday! And Sean IS playing tonight, to take his place!"

Sarah's mouth dropped open. "WHAT?!"

Stacey took a step closer to Sarah, and spoke lower so noone could hear with all the students bustling around them, "It was after school in the gym parking lot! And Sean was right there when the bear attacked Ben. You should talk to him. You've always been a good listener and he'll appreciate it. He thinks….." Stacey glanced around and then lowered her voice even more, "He thinks that the _Goblin King_ had something to do with it."

_Uhhh, what? How?_ Sarah frowned, "Uh, wow...ok, I'll ask him after the game..."

Stacey gave Sarah a few hard claps on the shoulder and then stepped back to her place.

_Jeez, he's probably feeling a lot of pressure right now, stepping in for Ben, the Team Captain..._

"You HAVE at least heard about what happened to Mr. Cooper though, right?" Stacey suddenly asked.

"Mr. Cooper?" Sarah stared at her, feeling like a ditz.

"Are you serious Sarah?! Are you living under a rock?!" Stacey gaped at her, making Sarah's face turn a little red, "Mr. Cooper got attacked by a black snake in his office this morning!"

_Can things get any worse than this?_ Sarah remembered that Mr. Cooper had been absent today but she had just brushed it off, not concerned. _How am I the last to hear anything?_

Stacey stepped closer to Sarah again, her eyes frightened, "He was busy talking to Luke when a black snake came out of his desk and bit him! He was unconscious by the time the ambulance came by."

_First owls, then bears, now snakes!? What's happening!_

Stacey gripped Sarah's arm, concerned, "You don't think… I mean, could they be related? Like, what are the odds of two crazy animal attacks happening within twenty-four hours?"

"Three."

Now it was Stacey's turn to look dumbfounded, "Excuse me?"

"Technically, there have been three crazy animal attacks within the last 24 hours." Sarah bit her lip, trying to connect the pieces to the puzzle.

She then proceeded to tell Stacey bout the owls that attacked Joss and Cody yesterday and saved her and Emily. Stacey stared at her, horrified.

"And now there's an owl stuck inside my shed..." Sarah mused to herself as she wondered what it could mean. She hoped Merlin was ok...

Stacey's eyes were as wide as saucers. "Two weeks and Dan _still_ hasn't woke up...And now Mr. Cooper and Ben are there in the hospital with him! This can't be a coincidence, right? It's got to be the Gobl—"

"STACEY! C'mon, the game's about to start!" Britney yelled over at Stacey, annoyed.

"I'll be there in a minute!" Stacey called back.

"Ooooooookay, be late if you want but Coach Tanner told me to tell you that you're on _thin ice_." Britney grinned evily at Stacey, taunting her. She strutted away and Stacey glared after her.

"Have you STILL not figured out how to get that cellphone back?" Sarah asked, glaring at Britney's back as well.

"I gotta go." Stacey sighed dejectedly, side-stepping the question. Sarah could hear what Stacey wasn't saying. She was still at Britney's mercy.

"It's okay, we can talk tomorrow," Sarah said, not wanting her to get into trouble. With a grateful nod and a sad smile, Stacey hurried toward the gym.

Sarah started to follow… when a strong hand clamped down on each of her shoulders.

"Hey, _Sarah_, long time no see." Jocelyn's angry voice had Sarah twisting around to face her.

Sarah's mouth dropped open as she took Jocelyn's face in.

"Not long enough," Sarah raised her eyebrows in shock, processing what she was seeing.

_So that's what happens if you get too close to owls..._

Dark angry scratches covered Jocelyn's face, arms, and hands, while the deeper cuts had strips of gauze taped onto them. She looked like a badly put together mummy. Who knew that owl claws could do so much damage? Again she hoped Merlin was ok and wondered if leaving them in the shed was the right thing to do.

Sarah tried to move away, but was suddenly grabbed by Cody who had come up beside Jocelyn. He looked just as bad, if not worse. "Awww, don't be like that! We missed you!" Cody smiled maliciously

"H-hey! Let go!" Sarah cried, eyes wide.

"But we want to sit by you during the game! We can do _the wave_!" Jocelyn grinned, sarcastically.

"Or, you know, talk about what you did to my _car_." Cody's face darkens, not smiling anymore. His grip tightens painfully, and Sarah's stomach fills with dread. H_ow do I get them to leave me alone? _

"Hey, high schoolers! Great day for a basketball game."

All three students jumped as someone spoke up from beside of them. They turn, and Sarah's shocked to see the handsome face of Connor Green. He wore a brown leather jacket and had his hands casually in his jean pockets, blond hair combed neatly. He had an easy smile on, but his eyes were hard, assessing the situstion. Boy, was she glad to see him!

"Ready to go in Sarah?" He said, smiling over at her and coming to stand beside her.

Jocelyn lets go of Sarah's other arm, scratching nervously at the red gashes that mar the backs of her hands. Cody was more reluctant. He sized up Connor, who was about the same size as him but was obviously older and an adult, before he let go of his grip on Sarah.

Sarah bit her lip and watched Cody and Jocelyn's reaction as Connor put his arm over Sarah's shoulders where they had once been grabbing.

"C'mon Joss." Cody said, turning away and going into the gym, with Jocelyn hurrying along beside him.

"Where are they headed in such a hurry?" He smirked, looking down at Sarah.

"Thank you for helping me," Sarah looked up at him, then realized their faces were really close and blushed. It was good he had come to the rescue. "As long as it's away from here, who cares!"

"Hmmm, I'm sensing that you guys aren't exactly friends." He murmured, looking back the way they went.

"Wow, what gave it away?" Sarah rolled her eyes and sent a final glare in the direction they had walked off in.

Connor smirked. He gestured towards the door, and with a blush, Sarah walked with him through the doors of the gym…

They eventually found themselves seats among the crowd of rowdy Westchester High fans with a great view of the court.

"So what happened to Cody and Jocelyn? Looks like they both took a bag of angry cats to the face." Connor asked, holding out a bag of M&Ms for Sarah to help herself. _What a gentleman_!

"Owls, actually. I think they're still a little freaked out about it." Sarah flashed him a big smile, grabbing a handful.

His eyebrows shot up and he pondered that for a moment before saying, "This whole place seems a little freaked out, if you ask me."

"Uh... what do you mean?" Sarah swallowed nervously.

"Dunno, just getting a weird vibe… like something's wrong but no one wants to admit it."

_He has no idea. _Sarah did her best to suppress a shiver. She glanced up at him, but he doesn't seem to have noticed.

"So, uh…how are things?" She tried to change the subject.

He smiled, and looked at her, "Well, today my boss hid in the back while I got rid of a spider."

Sarah giggled.

"…. except it wasn't a spider. It was a big dustball." He rolled his eyes.

"Wow. It's just non-stop excitement at Gunther's Hardware." Sarah joked.

They spied Stacey at the base of the bleachers, standing with the rest of the cheer squad. Connor waved and she smiled, sticking her tongue out at him.

He smiled and shook his head, "Heh. Brat."

"You guys are adorable." Sarah smiled, as she saw them banter back and forth. Toby and her were like that most of the time. She was beginning to miss the little squirt.

The game was about to start. Down on the court, the two teams got into position for the jump ball…she could see Sean clearly. The only Asian on the team and he looked jittery.

BEEEP! the whistle blew...

And their team took possession!

"Yeah! Go wolves!" Sarah shouted, clapping loudly.

The Westchester player drove down the court but was soon trapped by an Anderton High defender.

"Drew! Over here!" Sean yelled over to his teammate, completely open.

Drew looked at the spikey black-haired teen… then away. He tried to get past the defender, but ended up losing the ball!

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Sean yelled. He held his arms open in disgust.

"What the heck? Sean was wide open!" Sarah frowns, annoyed. _What gives?_

The Cougars scored an easy basket, and the ball returned to Sarah's team. But once again…

"Is it just me, or is nobody passing to your buddy down there?" Connor asked.

"It's definitely not you…" _I don't believe this._

By the middle of the second quarter, the Wolves were down by ten points.

"BOOOOOOOO! Someone score already!" Cody bellowed out over the whole stadium.

"Come on, Wolves! You can do it!" Stacey cheered sadly, trying not to lose hope.

Britney, standing beside Stacey, huffed angrily, "Ugh. This blows."

Sarah's heart sank as she watched Sean get angrier and angrier as his team refused to pass to him. His other friend, Tom, watched from the bench, shoulders slumped in defeat.

"I can't believe this…." Sarah shook her head, angry._ I'm about to go down there and slap someone!_

Connor nodded, "You're not the only one. Sean looks about ready to lose it."

On the court, Sean got into a defensive stance, tracking the ball with the intensity of a shark, his face flushed with anger.

"Come on…_please!"_ He muttered to himself quietly.

One of the Anderton players makes a cross-court pass… and Sean sprang up, snatching the ball out of the air!

"_Yes!_ Go Sean, go!" Sarah jumped up excitedly.

Sean headed for the three-point line, defenders scrambling to catch up! He shot, just as an Anderton player slammed into him from the side! Sean stumbled, nearly falling… but the ball swooshed through the basket! Cheers erupt from the bleachers as the ref awarded Sean a free throw, which he sank easily! The crowd roared!

"Score!" Sarah screamed as she hugged Connor! Her brain caught up to her actions, and she flushesd pink as she slowly let go of him. Looking up at him, she was relieved to see that he was grinning at her, eyes sparkling.

The ref signaled halftime! Sean followed the rest of the team off the court as the cheer squad jumped up to do their routine.

They both cheered and Sarah yelled, "**HELL yeah**, Sean! You're the best!"

Sean looked up at Sarah in the bleachers. Grinning, he pumps his fist in the air.

"Hell yeah!" He yelled back, running to go on a break.

"Come on Wolves! Let's hear you howl!" Stacey yelled up to the crowd.

As the cheerleaders start their routine, Sarah noticed Connor frowning slightly.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Does Stace seem off her game to you?" Connor nodded toward Stacey, who danced clumsily at the back of the formation. She looked so embarrassed.

Sarah realized that Stacey hasn't told Connor about the blackmail.

"Maybe there's something going on with her," Sarah suggested, trying to ease him towards the answer without breaking her promise to Stacey.

"Must be. Stace wouldn't let any old stress interfere with her cheerleading." He said, worried. "Gymnastics, dance, cheer… performing was always the one thing that helped her escape from whatever other crap she was dealing with."

"Crap like your parents?" Sarah couldn't help but ask. She bit her lip, not wanting to overstep her boundaries, but wanting to understand Connor's background better. Get to know him.

Connor sighed, tapping his foot on the bleachers.

"Yeah… I gave up on my folks a long time ago. To me, they're just a couple of unpleasant strangers who happen to live with my sister. But Stacey… I don't think she could ever cut them out like that. She's too good a person."

"And you're not a good person?" Sarah asked. She's curious as to what he will say about himself.

He looked over at Sarah and gave her a half-smile, "Not bad, but not _too_ good either."

The routine ended and the second half of the game began.…

During the third quarter, Sean sank basket after basket! By the middle of the fourth quarter, the Wolves were only down by one point!

"Holy crap…" Sarah said, shocked. _Sean is good…..almost too good!_ She never knew he could play like this! She couldn't help but get the niggling feeling that there was more to meet the eye here. Sean had never made the basketball team, but now during his first game he scored every point? Thoughts of what Stacey had said about Jareth being the reason that Sean was here came back to her mind. Sarah glanced around warily, half-expecting to see his dark shadow somewhere in the room. Suddenly, Sarah wasn't having that good of a time anymore.

"Huh! We might actually win this." Connor laughed and clapped.

The cheering from Sarah's side of the bleachers got louder and louder as Tom grabbed a rebound and started dribbling up the court!

"Whooo! Get 'em Wolves!" Stacey whooped, waving her pom-poms.

Tom stopped, blocked by an Anderton defender. He spun around, looking for an opening.

"SEAN!" He passed the ball to Sean with seconds left on the clock. Sean pivoted and shot the ball…

"Come on!" Connor pleaded.

Everyone's breath held...

….and the ball dropped straight into the basket!

"BOOM!" Sean yelled, throwing his arms out and turning towards the crowd as if he was a circus performer finishing an act!

The crowd roared, surging to their feet! Everyone rushed onto the court as a chant began to rise over the noise…

"King Kang! King Kang! King Kang! KING KANG!"

Everyone was on the bleachers. Everyone except Sarah who sat there, watching the revelry. She looked around and noticed that M.J. was still on the benches too, doodling in her sketchbook without a care in the world.

"Whoo-hoo!" Sarah could hear Stacey laughing. And everyone yelling to each other.

"You're number one!", "**SUCK IT Anderton high!", "**Yeah! Wolves rule!"

"You were incredible out there Sean!" Luke spoke over the intercom above the noise of the crowd, "I always knew you were the star of the team!"

Sarah sighed. She stood up and turned to MJ, "C'mon MJ, let's get down there and congratulate him before we hurt his feelings."

MJ grumbled for a moment, lost in her drawing before sighing and snapping her book closed. They walked down the bleachers together and were able to reach Sean, surrounded by adoring fans.

"Yeah! Go Sean!" Emily whooped and hollered.

"That's my man!" Taylor tried to slap him on the back, but couldn't reach him because of the crowd.

Sean looked like he's going to cry, but instead sucked it in and laughed triumphantly. Tom pushed his way through the tight knot of people, "C'mon, Sean, we've gotta hit the showers! Coach is taking us all out to dinner to celebrate!"

"You guys should come!" Sean looks to Sarah, MJ, Luke, Taylor and Emily, "Dessert's on me! I'm feeling generous!"

Everyone agrees except Sarah. She's quiet.

Sean followed the rest of the team to the locker room, and Sarah looked around until she saw Connor over by the doors.

"Hey, you heading out?" She asked him.

"Soon, yeah. Gonna see if I can talk to Stace for a minute first. You want a ride home? It's too dark to walk by yourself."

"Thanks, but I'll be alright" She smiled shyly.

"It's a nice drive this time of night."

_I REALLY really want to._ "I'll take you up on that another night.." She gave him a quick hug.

He smiled, waving as he wandered away through the crowd toward his sister. Excepting Dan, Sarah always felt like Luke, Sean, and Taylor were like her brothers and she didn't feel awkward around them. Especially Taylor, because of Jess. As she looked at Connor she felt a tingle of excitement and attraction. He felt like an adventure. And Sarah truly_… desperately_ missed the thrill of adventure. Only Jareth had ever offered her that, but he was as unattainable as a unicorn. An evil unicorn.

She went outside and sees Sean with his team about to get into a van.

"Hey, Sean!" She called out, reaching them.

He turned to her with the happiest expression on his face that suddenly seemed hesitant, "Oh! Uh, hey Sarah... you gonna meet us over at the diner?"

"Actually, I'm going to head home, kinda tired." She nods behind her to where Stacey had offered her a ride, "You did really good today Sean! I didnt know you were so good at basketball!"

Sean suddenly looked a little uncomfortable, "Yeah, I...I guess."

Sarah had never been a patient person and went to the point, "I heard you were there when Ben got attacked. Is he ok? What happened?"

He looked around and leaned over to Sarah and said "Actually, uh, can we talk about that later? I'm about to go celebrate with my team..."

"Stacey told me that you mentioned the Goblin King had something to do with the attack. THIS is more important than a dinner!"

Sean scratched his head, looking back and forth between the van and Sarah.

"Sean," Sarah whispered, "What did the Goblin King do to Ben?"

Sean sighed, his eyes became guilty as he finally relented, "_He's_ the reason I played tonight, Sarah. _He_ HELPED me get the position..." He looked upset, " And I-I think he's the reason I scored so many points tonight."

"But, Sean, why would he do that?" Sarah asked him, having felt that was the reason but still shocked.

"In return for his help...he-he wants...Sarah, I-I don't know what to do!" He shook his head struggling.

"What does he want?!" Sarah felt a tingle of fear shoot up her spine. Did Sean make a _deal_ with Jareth in order to be a basketball star?

"C'MON KING KANG! Get in the van we're going to be late!" Tom called to him from the seat he was saving.

"Just a second!" Sean yelled. He turned back to Sarah,rushedo, "I gotta go. We'll talk tomorrow!"

"Sean!" Sarah gaped at him.

"We're **all** going to the hospital to visit Dan tomorrow. I'll tell you and everyone else then, ok?" Sean pleaded, looking back up at the van.

That was a good idea. Sarah realized. After 2 weeks in a coma; Dan had been transported to the nearest city since Westchester didnt seem to have the right tools to help him and he was now allowed visitors at the new hospital.

Sarah realized that she was being selfish. This is Sean's first moment of victory. He had just gone from zero to hero...was it so wrong to let him enjoy the feeling while he still had it.

_And here I am spoiling it..._

Sarah nodded, defeated, "We need to see Dan and figure out what our next move is. I'll talk to you later, Sean."

He smiled grateful, before turning and climbing up into the van with the rest of the team. He looked at her sadly through the window as they drive away.

Sarah stood there for a minute, feeling cold. How could Sean have known that Jareth wanted something unless he _talked_ to him? And the snake with Luke and Mr. Cooper? Had Jareth been there too?

* * *

She's hit with a cold rush of air, and shivered as she walks along. She nervously looks around her at the black night as she walks along the dark wooded road. The wind whips Sarah's hair around and does the same thing to the trees who seem to be dancing and shaking. Her hair stood up on her arms and zhe rubbed them, trying to calm herself down. She felt watched. Exposed. Which is something you never EVER want to feel while walking in the dark.

Why hadn't I accepted Connor's ride?

Sarah looked up at the dark trees, wanting to hightail it back to the highschool but forced herself to move onward. Merlin was still in the shed. She had to go through the darkness to get him. She begins to sing herself a song, as that's the only thing giving her courage.

_I'm not scared! I'm not scared!_

When she finally makes it home, she took a deep, stabilizing breath. She made it! She turned a little away from the house to walk toward the shed. _Why oh why does the shed have to be so far from the house, RIGHT on the edge of the woods? Curse you dad!_

Sarah opened the shed door with a screech that grated her nerves, "Hey Merlin! How's it go….ing?" Sarah saw the owl on the floor, looking up at her. There was a crumpled paper, next to it's foot. Merlin was in his bed under the table, watching the owl warily. She could barely see him because of the darkness. She quickly flipped the switch on, feeling relieved as the light chased away all the strange shadows.

"Merlin! Come!" She ordered, feeling angsty.

He stood up, watching the owl out of the corner of his eye, and pressed against the walls as he tried to come over to Sarah with the greatest distance possible between them. Sarah couldn't help but laugh. Looks like they had a bit of a squabble while she was gone. Merlin probably tried to eat the owl, and she had put him in his place. Sarah checked his fur, but there are no scratches or bites.

"Did you make our friend feel welcome? Or did she have to make you behave?" Sarah asked him, petting his head. He closed his eyes, and grinned happily.

Sarah turned to the bird, who was still on the floor, and she again noticed the folded piece of paper . The owl was watching Sarah, and began to bob her head up and down when she noticed Sarah looking her way.

Sarah stood there studying her for a moment. She didnt know if the owl bobbing its head was cute or creepy. What was the piece of paper though? It looked old, like parchment.

"Look, uh, owl. I don't have any more food for you..." Sarah walked slowly in order to not scare the owl, "But can I get that paper from the floor without you attacking me?"

Surprisingly, the owl obliged and walked away a few paces on her long legs. She had such a pretty heart-shaped face. Sarah picked up the paper and looked at the owl thoughtfully.

"You are such a beautiful and graceful creature. I think I'm going to call you 'Daphnee'."

She just stared at Sarah and so Sarah kept talking, to perhaps get her used to her voice, "The name comes from Greek mythology about a nymph, the daughter of the river-god Peneus. She escaped from the attentions of Apollo by being transformed into a laurel tree. And seeing how the Laurel in a symbol of victory, I think you definitely were victorious against Cody and Jocelyn even though you were hurt in battle."

She apparently got bored with Sarah's narrative because she began to fluff up and preen her feathers, ignoring her.

Sarah turned her attention to the parchment paper in her hand, it was old and brittle. She unfolded it. It was a letter! An old letter by the look of the cursive.

* * *

**_"Dear E.B,_**

**_I want to write to you from the car of a train bound over the Rockies, a feat of modernity so spectacular I reel to conceive of it!_**

**_Alas, my mind is preoccupied with my destination; one Westchester, Oregon and the curious package that started me on this expedition when it appeared in my university mailbox: a photograph of dark trees…an inhuman silhouette…and five hastily scribbled words._**

**_"It lives in the woods."_**

**_The other faculty (and your father) think me mad to chase such nonsense. Perhaps they are right. Perhaps they've always been right. Or perhaps this time I shall prove them all wrong._**

**_-Goddard E. Filleus_**

**_September 29, 1871_**

* * *

Sarah got a queasy feeling from the letter. _It lives in the woods?_...Did he mean Jareth? Who is the author of this letter? She checked the date.

"1871?! Where on earth did you find this Daphnee?" Sarah cried, shocked. _What's an owl doing, bringing me 200-year-old mail?_

"I don't suppose you have an overdue letter from Hogwarts, do you?" Sarah asked her with a raised eyebrow. Sarah was joking but at the same time hesitant. What...or WHO was this bird?

Daphnee tilted her head at Sarah.

"Well, I guess it would be weirder if you _did_ answer." Sarah rolled her eyes and looked back at the paper. Reading over the letter one more time she concluded that she'll have to do some research on this Goddard E. Filleus fellow. She walked over to the table only to stop in astonishment. ANOTHER folded up old paper was on the table! The first one must have fallen to the floor and the owl protected it from Merlin.

Slowly, ever so slowly, Sarah reached for the paper. It was addressed to the same "E.B." by the same Goddard E. Fillius. _Are these pages of someone's journal?_

Sarah began to read.

* * *

**_Dear E.B.,_**

**_Do you recall our endless discussions beneath the old oak tree? As I settle in Westchester, your words echo in my ears, speaking of reality and ritual… known and unknown… and the ancient wilderness that lives between…_**

**_I confess I am bewitched by this somnambulant woodland town. But there is a supernatural "fog" of sorts here, E. B... the gradual tension of boundaries ill-defined and shifting of two realms. A dark current courses beneath this town. Every soul in Westchester seems to acknowledge it… but none dare speak it's name._**

**_I mean to trace that current to its headwaters… and chart them for all the world to see!_**

**_Goddard E. Fillius_**

**_October 1, 1871_**

* * *

_A supernatural 'fog'? Ill-defined and shifting boundaries of realms? A dark current?!_

Sarah took both letters, opened a drawer of dusty thumbtacks and pinned the letters on her wall so they wouldnt fall onto the floor again. She stepped back and studied them for a moment. This man had worked at an acedemy of some sort and was messaging a woman about his trip to Westchester. Did he ever discover Jareth as the source of the strange occurances here ? She rubbed at her tired eyes. This would have to wait until later.

"Come on, Merlin." Sarah sighed, slapping her thigh to get his attention. She didn't want to turn the light off, but she forced herself to be reasonable and plunged the shed into darkness as she quickly closed the door. She turned and headed back to the house. Tomorrow would hopefully bring more answers than today did.


	16. Chapter 16: Wishes and Debts

The next day, during the last hour of school, Sarah was busy scribbling away in her notebook s the substitute teacher for Mr. Cooper went over assignments.

Note after note after note of ideas of how to confront the Goblin King were crumpled up or saved for later. There were a thousand and one questions she wanted answers to. But the question that she kept coming back to was why hadn't Dan woken up yet? Why had he gone into the forest in the first place? And what did she need to do to fix all this mess?

She thought about the strange occurrences that have happened since he was set free.

Telekinetic powers for MJ, Britney being nice to Emily (although Jareth's involvement hadnt been proven...), Basketball champion for Sean, Attacking owls for her enemies...

That just left Stacey, Taylor, and Luke. And Dan, of course, but the Goblin King didn't seem to be doing him any favors. And she needed to talk to Luke about the snake to see if that had any correlation-

BRRIIIIIIINGGGGGG!

Sarah shoved her mess of papers and notes into her backpack and headed for the door where Luke just passed through, not bothering to wait for her. They were all heading to the parking lot. It was time to get some answers.

Sarah pushed open the school doors and headed left towards the parking lot. But when she rounded the corner, she stopped; shocked to see that an unwelcome addition had been made to the group…

"What the hell took you so long, Sarah?" Britney scowled.

Sarah raised her eyebrow in surprise. _Charming..._

"What's _she _doing here?" Sarah turned to the gang, not bothering to respond to Britney.

"Good question," Taylor said, glaring at the nuisance.

"She didn't suffer a major concussion and wander here in a semi-conscious haze… I already asked." MJ drawled, leaning against Stacey's car.

Britney rolled her eyes, "What I'm doing here is _leaving_, don't worry. I just came by to…"

She hesitated, and Stacey nudged her with her foot. She scowled even deeper and continued through clenched teeth, "to invite you to my party at my house this Saturday."

Everyone stared at her.

Taylor broke the moment first, "Wow. Did not expect that."

Sean turned to MJ seriously, "You sure about that concussion?"

Sarah couldn't help her astonishment, "Uh, you're inviting _us _to your party?" _Suspicious much?_

But Sarah could clearly see that Britney was wishing she could crawl into a hole somewhere. Sarah realized that this could be a wonderful opportunity to get Britney back for being a complete jerk to everyone. _I am SOOOO not letting this opportunity pass by!_

"Wow, Britney! Sounds fun! You know, I don't think I've ever been over to your house before!" Sarah grinned, enjoying her discomfort.

Britney glowered, "Wow, imagine that."

Sarah's smile grew wider.

Stacey glowed as she looked at the group, "Come on, guys! Britney told me she's trying to turn over a new leaf and stop being such a jerk to people. Right, Brit?" She smiled and nudged the uncomfortable girl beside her.

If looks could kill, Stacey would be dead as Britney answered, "Yeah. Totally."

"Well!", MJ shrugged off of Stacey's car she was leaned against, "This is just a bunch of 'more weird' to add to the 'weird pile'. Are we sure this isn't the Goblin King—"

Taylor nudged MJ hard in the ribs, jerking his head at Britney.

MJ crossed her arms, glaring at him, "Ok, but we're gonna have a talk about this later."

Sarah had to agree. **Britney** listening to **Stacey**? Things were getting weirder. What about the blackmail?

"Yeah! We'll talk about that, uh, school project…For that class we have…That Britney isn't in." Sean tried miserably to cover up MJ's slip up.

Britney watched all this take place.

"Okay, whatever you're talking about? Yeah, I super don't care." She rolled her eyes and flipped her brown hair.

"We're… really _all_ invited to your party?" Emily asked, barely containing her excitement.

Britney looked at Emily, her expression softening a little. "Yeah, really. Does that mean you're coming?"

"O-of course! I would love to!" Emily proceeded to float up into the clouds from excessive happiness…

"Great! Well, I'll see you there!" Britney beamed. With a final glare at Stacey, Britney stalked away.

Sarah pulled Stacey aside, lowering her voice so the others can't hear..."Okay, what the _heck_ just happened?! Either I got transported into opposite land, or—"

"I got her phone Sarah!" Stacey whispered excitedly to her, "The video's gone now!"

"What?!" Sarah was so happy, "Stace, that's amazing! You're finally free!"

"How in the heck did you get her phone?" Sarah asked excitedly, wanting to know all the dirty details.

"That's…uh, kinda the complicated part…" Stacey was suddenly nervous. _Huh?_

Before Sarah could ask, MJ came between them, "Not to break up this fun whispering thing you've got going on…. but visiting hours are over in, like ninety minutes."

Taylor piped up, "Yeah, we gonna go see Dan or what?"

"Sorry! We're coming!" Sarah called back. She looked back at Stacey, but Stacey didn't meet her eyes.

_What's getting into everyone?_

"I can fit five in my car…Luke, can you drive Sarah?" Stacey asked as she walked over to her blue hyundai sonata.

Luke had been standing there, silent this whole time, and jumped at the sound of his name. He looked around.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure." He said, distractedly.

Stacey unlocked her car, letting MJ, Sean, Emily, and Taylor pile inside. Sarah felt like Stacey had pushed her away on purpose and couldn't deny feeling confused and hurt. She could hear Sean and MJ arguing: "Yo, MJ, lemme trade you for the front. These shoulders don't like the backseat…", "Fight me, Kang." MJ grinned, buckling her seatbelt.

"Guess that means it's you and me, Luke." Sarah sighed and looked over at Luke, who looked like he was off in outer space. At the sound of his name, he gave another start, like he had with Stacey and stared wide-eyed at Sarah.

"Hm? Oh, okay."

_Luke too!?_ Sarah realized it's a good thing she and Luke had this time to talk. She needed to ask about the snake. Sarah got into Luke's car and they followed Stacey out of the parking lot. The inside of Luke's car was silent as Luke stared through the windshield, watching the forest go by, hardly noticing Sarah was there.

Sarah looked hard at him and finally noticed his bloodshot eyes. He looked exhausted. "Hey… are you all right?" She asked gently, cautiously.

"I'm fine."

Sarah tried again, "Are you sure? Because you really don't seem fine." _Smooth, Sarah. Real smooth._

Luke sighed and glanced over at Sarah, a slight frown on his face. "I wasn't, but…I'm keeping it together. Really."

This reminded Sarah of her conversation with Dan last year. She needed to go about this gently and kindly, like opening a flower, instead of stomping all over the garden.

"You know you can talk to me, right? I'm a part of this too. I know what you're going through right now." Sarah said gently. She relaxed into her seat, trying to get him to relax too.

A bitter laugh escaped Luke, and he shook his head as if trying to clear it, "Sorry. Just… I don't think _you_ can help with this." Sarah wondered what he could mean by implying that she, in particular, couldn't help him. His words began coming out fast, "I screwed up, Sarah. I screwed up badly, and I…I'm scared of what you and the others would think of me if you knew what I've done."

Sarah felt a cold stab of dread in her stomach. What could possibly be so bad? Luke's hands shook on the steering wheel. He sniffed, reaching up to quickly wipe at his eyes.

"Sorry, would you hand me a tissue?" he asked.

Sarah nodded a little, scared, "Yeah, of course! Are they in here, or…?"

She opened the glove compartment.

"**_Wait, no_!**"

Luke lunged over to stop Sarah, yanking the steering wheel in the process! The car swerved toward the right lane.

"**_Luke!_**" Sarah shrieked, feeling adrenaline pump through her heart like a missile. She grabbed hold of the steering wheel on reflex and jerked it to the left again, just managing to stay inside the left lane. _Phew!_

"What the HELL, Luke?! I was just looking in the…" Sarah paused, her gaze drifting down to the now open glove compartment. Inside, she could see several small plastic bottles with white caps. Luke put his head on the steering wheel.

"Don't…" He begged, but Sarah's already picked one up, turning it to read the label. _Adderall?_

"Luke, are these…_focus pills_?" She asked, confused.

"Yes… but—"

"The label has your mom's name… why'd she prescribe so many? There are, like, five bottles in here!" She counted.

Sarah didn't know much about narcotics, pills, ect. While lots of teenagers sought stimulants to get "high" and "escape" the mundane or even experience the "supernatural", Sarah Marie Williams was busy trying to escape the strange and exotic and just be **normal** (something she would have been appalled by as a child). But she DID know that Adderall and Ritalin, both focus pills for ADHD kids, could be dangerous…and they were illegal.

The conversation that she had overheard between Mr. Cooper and Luke a few weeks ago was starting to make sense…

"She…" He hung his head and sighed, "She didn't. Last month I…I stole a page from her prescription pad."

"Tell me what happened with Mr. Cooper." She ordered, not wasting anymore time.

Surprisingly, Luke did. He sighed and said, "I was at school early because Principles Flores asked me to record a P.A. message about the bear attack that happened to Ben the other night. Mr. Cooper called me in to have a 'chat'" Luke swallowed nervously, thinking back. "He's been doing that a lot, and was upset about how many extracurriculars I have."

Sarah watched him talking. _Why DID Luke feel the need to have so many extracurriculars?_ She spoke up, "How many extracurriculars DO you have?"

Luke scratched his hair, "Well, I tutor."

"That doesn't seem like a lot." Sarah crossed her arms.

"I show up to class early, turn every assignment in on time, I do extra credit, I ace every essay or exam, and on top of all of that I have my student council duties…among other things." Luke sighs again, and it seemed as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. "Anyways, Mr. Cooper got suspicious. He suspected that I was using medication to get through my classes. I was caught. I knew that, but I kept on denying everything. It felt like I was going to throw up. And then he…he asked me **outright** if I was taking anything to give me an edge over the other students."

Luke paused, staring ahead. Sarah watched him, anxiously.

"And then… _the lights started flickering_." Luke said, his tired eyes growing wide. "And _He _appeared…"

Sarah took a deep breath through her nose. He showed up. Just like in the library. And in the parking lot. It was as she thought.

Dan was right. Somehow, going back into the woods had allowed him access to them out here in the real world. Would she ever be able to get any answers from Dan about WHY? Maybe asking Jareth WAS her only option.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I just didn't know what to say. Plus, I didn't have the opportunity until now," Luke said, misjudging Sarah's expression.

"I'm fine. What happened next?"

"Well, he suddenly appeared **right behind** Mr. Cooper. I'm surprised that Mr. Cooper didn't notice my expression and turn around. I was so afraid that I couldn't move. It was the first time I've seen him in 10 years..." Luke shook his head. "But Mr. Cooper just continued on talking, I don't remember much of what he said. I was too focused on the Goblin King behind him. I just remember that he said he was going to call a meeting with my parents and the principle and if they found anything…." Luke shook his head again, "I was going to get suspended."

"What did _He_ do? Did he look different?" Sarah asked, not being able to help herself. She felt like it was an unhealthy obsession she had. Every time someone mentioned him, she couldn't help but focus completely. It was all she ever wanted to talk about but had forced herself not to. She didn't want to scare her friends who would prefer not to ever bring him up.

Luke turned to look at Sarah, meeting her eyes. His eyes looked…guilty…and afraid. "He looked just like we remembered him. Shrouded in darkness. Black armor, blond white hair, scary eyes, and teeth. He smiled at me before putting a finger to his lips and winked at me. I knew that Mr. Cooper was in danger, somehow, but I…" He gripped the steering wheel, to stabilize himself. "I _wanted _him to get hurt, Sarah. I wanted something…_someone_…to shut him up for good! I _wished _with all my heart that no one would find out about the pills." Luke let out a choked sob. "And so the Goblin King did help."

Sarah was without words. She just sat there, aghast. Luke wished for the Goblin King to protect his secret…at the expense of Mr. Cooper.

"You-you have to understand Sarah! When you get suspended or use….. _study aids_… it ALL goes on your record! Every University or prospective employer to see. All my hard work; All my sacrifices, and efforts_…wasted_. I've worked so hard because this is my _dream,_ Sarah! It's all I want!" Luke's eyes are pleading as he begs for her to understand. To understand why the means justified the ends. To understand why he allowed the Goblin King to help him…"Then, Mr. Cooper opened up his desk drawer and a black snake came out and attacked him!" He wiped at his eyes. "Mr. Cooper yelled, but before I could do anything, the snake bit him in the chest! He was in a panic, saying he had been bit and he needed a doctor, and then….he-he passed out. Right there on the floor." Luke's eyes were haunted as he murmured, "It all happened so fast."

"Did the Goblin King say anything?" Sarah asked suspiciously.

Luke nodded. But doesn't say anything else. Sarah waited. And waited. But Luke is either in his own thoughts or was refusing to tell her.

"Luke!"

"Don't." Luke said, his voice hard. "Don't ask me Sarah."

Sarah leaned away from Luke, "What's _wrong_ with you? What aren't you telling me? WHY aren't you telling me!" She was almost in tears now.

Luke didn't say anything. He just gripped the steering wheel and shook his head. Sarah felt like she didn't even know Luke anymore.

"All magic comes with a price, Luke." Sarah spat out at him, angrily. She saw him flinch and she turned her full fury on him. How dare he NOT tell her? A biggling little voice in Sarah's head told her she was being extremely hypocritical, but she was too upset to listen, "You are now in his DEBT! Did you _think_ about that?! Did you think about what might possibly be motivating him to help you?" She asked. Sarah was scared for Luke. Luke was going to get himself killed. _Just like Jessica.._. But part of Sarah selfishly was worried about herself. What did this mean for her?

Luke looked at Sarah with a strange expression on his face, "Don't you think I **know** that?! You have no idea! I know NOW, that it was stupid of me. This morning Principal Flores called me into the office to tell me that Mr. Cooper is in a coma…just like Dan."

_Another person in a coma?!_

Luke continued, "Part of me knew there would be a cost. But at the moment, there seemed to be nothing worse than to be banned from every major university or employment position that actually is WORTH something. I've worked too hard for it."

"Luke, why is all that the most important thing to you?" Sarah choked out, ready to cry.

"Sarah, my mom came to the U.S. when she was nineteen, and she had nothing. She worked three jobs to put herself through college. She got a _full ride_ to Harvard Medical. That's where she met my dad, who already had three patents under his belt. Now? He has _twenty."_

"So your parents are geniuses… what's that got to do with this?" Sarah said, not getting it, "I assume that an actual excuse is coming up?"

"I….I know nothing can excuse what I did. I just want you to understand…" Luke looked sadder than Sarah's ever seen him before, "Everything I do is measured against them. '_At your age, I'd won an international prize for science. At your age, I'd started my own company.'_ I'm already so far behind them, and…and they can't hide how disappointed they are. I can see it every time they look at me."

_Wow_. His parents seemed to be amazing professionals…. but downright crappy parents. Luke was only 18.

"So… you decided that _this _was the solution?" She said gently, holding up a pill bottle. She understood _why_ he did it. That didn't make it ok. It wasn't the right way to deal with it. But she _did_ understand. And now that she understood, she had to see how they could fix this.

"I couldn't think of anything else to do. I was already overloaded on classes. I wasn't sleeping… I was at my limit, and I could feel myself slipping, I had to get some… help." He shook his head, "The first week… it was AMAZING! I had so much energy, and I never got distracted. I finished two college apps in one night! But…" He sank back within himself " ..it didn't last. Suddenly, I was paranoid all the time, and I couldn't sleep, even when I tried. So, Mr. Cooper noticed how anxious I was being…"

"So, the Goblin King put that snake in Mr. Cooper's desk to….what? _Protect _you?" She tasted the words in her mouth. That didn't seem right when he had been threatening them before... Why would Jareth go out of his way? What was he playing at?

"Yes," Luke gripped the steering wheel tightly. "It's my fault that Mr. Cooper in the hospital, and it'll be my fault if he dies. Same goes for Sean with Ben."

_WHAT?!_

"Hold on... what do you mean!?" She asked, rounding on him in utter shock and worry.

"Sean didn't tell you?" Luke looked over at Sarah, eyes

"No! I mean…he mentioned the Goblin King…but you make it sound like he _wanted_ Ben to get hurt..." She leaned back into her chair, nauseous.

Luke jumped right into the story, apparently happy to be talking about someone OTHER than him, "Sean told me that he confronted Ben after basketball practice about never being able to play on the team and always sitting out with Tom. And Ben acted nice at first, but then was a total jerk and told him that he should do all the team a favor and quit and that no one likes him on the team."

"But!" Sarah protested, shocked, "The NBA has tons of Asian players!"

"Yeah, and those guys _still _have to deal with racist crap. People yelling slurs during games, teammates not passing them the ball…"

Sarah's mind unwillingly went back to when no one passed him the ball during the game…_ What a stupid team captain!_

"Ben said the only reason he made the team this year is because it was an 'affirmative action hire and that it looks good for photos'." Luke shook his head in disgust.

Sarah's heart pounded and her stomach clenched. _Poor Sean…_

"And Sean…well, you know Sean," Luke smiled ruefully for a moment, "He obviously got pissed. He followed after Ben, into the parking lot, planning on getting into a fight with him, when he saw the bear running over to him and Ben! It bore down on Ben, lunging down and yanked him off his feet and dragged him across the yard towards the woods by his arm!"

Sarah stared at Luke in horror.

"But suddenly it lost interest. It released Ben and looked around as if coming out of a daze…" Luke looked at Sarah worried. "And it looked at Sean, then turned and wandered off into the woods!"

"So why did Sean think the Goblin King had anything to do with it?" She asked, horrified.

"Because he was _there_, Sarah!" Luke said, turning his head to look at her. "He appeared at the edge of the woods, where the bear was walking towards him. But the bear did a number on Ben's arm. His PLAYING arm. And so Sean was able to play starting forward during the game." He finished the story.

"First the owls, then the bear, then the snake…." Sarah said to herself.

"Owls?" Luke asked, confused. He pulled into the hospital parking lot.

Sarah quickly told him about the owls that saved them from Cody and Jocelyn. And how there was an owl that was now officially hanging out in her shed. Sarah stopped as she suddenly realizes that her story and Lukes weren't all that different. She had also wished harm upon Jocelyn and Cody. She wished that they would stop...that they would HURT because of how much they hurt her by pushing her down the hill. And as they were being pecked to death by birds, she didn't raise a hand to stop it. She felt a little ashamed at her outburst at Luke. She was selfish too, just like he had been. The only difference had been that Jareth hadn't shown up when she had wished with the birds. And he hadn't talked to her in the library when she hadn't called for him. Why had he talked to Luke and Sean? And what had they talked ABOUT?! Luke was refusing to tell her.

Something suddenly occured to Sarah…_did Stacey get the phone back with the Goblin King's help too?_

"So, what are you gonna do now?" she asked as Luke looked around for a parking space.

Luke's gaze turned to Sarah and studied her for a long moment before he nodded to himself, "I'm going to get rid of the pills, and I'm going to do whatever I can to stop the Goblin King from hurting anyone else. After that…I don't know." He parked the car and turned fully to face Sarah, "I'm so sorry, Sarah. I know I have no right to ask anything of you, but…but please, don't tell anyone what I did. Please give me some time to fix this."

"Will you tell me what the Goblin King wanted from you?" Sarah folded her arms, and looked hard at him. She didn't mean to act like a child. But she felt belligerent.

Luke sighed, and sat back in the seat while putting his hands on his head, "Probably the same thing he wanted from Sean..."

"What's that?" Sarah was worried.

Luke looked over at her with a haunted look in his eye, "Sarah, please, just...let ME figure this out, ok? For once, just trust your friends and let ME settle this...and then I PROMISE I will tell you everything. Everything's going to be fine, Sarah. No one else's going to get hurt, I promise."

"But I'm worried about _you_ Luke!" Sarah said, fearful and upset, "I don't want anything to happen to you or Sean!"

Luke shook his head and whispered, "You need to be more worried about yourself, Sarah." Sarah's felt the blood drain from her face.

But Luke quickly continued, "Just...promise you won't tell anyone?" He nodded towards the pills in her hand.

Sarah sighed and shook her head, at a loss, "Of course Luke. I won't tell a soul. Your parents held you to an impossible standard. It makes sense that you cracked under pressure. It doesn't excuse what you did…but you deserve a chance to make things right."

Luke sighed, and looked at her gratefully, "Thank you, Sarah. You're a great friend. I swear, I'm going to do everything I can to fix this."

Sarah nodded stiffly, still upset about being kept out od the loop, and got out of the car. She didn't like being in the dark about anything, but even more so when Jareth was involved. Part of her couldn't help feeling entitled to any and all information the group had about him. After all, she met him first before anyone else. Sarah internally berated herself though, reminding herself that that was her pride talking and she didn't OWN the Goblin King. But still...it was hard not to threaten Luke with telling people if he didn't tell her. She just couldn't do that to him though. She had to trust that he would tell her before it was too late.

Stacey's car was parked partway down the block, but the gang is nowhere to be found.

"Looks like the others beat us here. You ready to head in?" Sarah asked.

"Hang on." Luke's muffled voice made her turn back to the car.

She saw Luke loading the pill bottles into an old McDonald's fast-food bag. "There's something I have to do first." He gave her a forced smile and turned and walked away. Sarah followed him.

In a narrow alley across the street from the hospital, Luke stuffed the bag of pill bottles into a large green trashcan amidst a bunch of dumpsters. The smell of new and old food wafted up from the restaurant on the other side.

"There. I'm done taking shortcuts." He dusted his hands off for good measure.

"Good." She put her hand on his shoulder, "I'm really proud of you."

Luke grinned.

Both Sarah and Luke jumped as someone cleardx their throat at the end of the alley.

"Soooooooooo… you guys know Dan's not in that garbage can, right?" hands on her hips, MJ smirked at the duo.

"Jeez, MJ! What are you doing out here?!" Sarah asked, angry at her for making them jump.

"Uh waiting for you guys? So I can lead you to the weird back room they've got Dan in? What are _you_ doing in this creepy–"

They're interrupted by a sudden noise from inside one of the garbage cans. A muffled, insistent scratching…

"What on earth…" Luke backed away, scared.

"It…It's probably just a raccoon or something, right?" Sarah asked nervously.

MJ walked up to where they stood and said, "Are we thinking regular raccoon? Or supernaturally-controlled-attack raccoon?"

Sarah glared at her, "Not. Helping."

"Should we…check?" Luke glanced at the trashcan.

They all looked at each other for a moment.

"One of us should…." Sarah prompted.

"Probably, unless you want some poor, unsuspecting waiter to get a faceful of evil raccoon when he's taking out the garbage," MJ smirked again.

Sarah again glanced between MJ and Luke. They did the same thing. _This is getting ridiculous._

Sarah finally rolled her eyes, "Ugh, fine! I've got it, you guys." She took a deep breath and braced herself. She strode up to the trash can and flung back the lid before she could second guess her courage.

"Oh…my…gosh…" Sarah slowly said.

"W-What? What is it?!" Luke asked, more nervous because of her reaction.

Wordlessly, Sarah beckoned her friends over. They edge up to look, and there, nestled among the crumpled newspapers and takeout containers is a…

Meow?

A black kitten with white paws looked up at them, tiny as can be.

"Oh…" Sarah said

"My…" Luke said

"KITTY!" MJ shrieked happily.

The kitten flattened her ears and backed away, baring tiny fangs.

"HSSSSSSSS!"

"Whoa! It's okay, kitty, we won't hurt you, promise." Sarah said gently. She reached out, holding her hand very still as the kitten crept forward to sniff her fingers. Watching suspiciously, the kitten put one white paw on her hand…then the other. When nothing terrible happened, she climbed into Sarah's palm. "See? You're okay." Sarah smiled, elated. Much easier than an owl!

The kitten's purr rumbled softly against her hand as she gently lifted her out of the garbage can.

"Kittyyyyyyyyy!" MJ cooed.

"I think we broke MJ." Luke chuckled at MJ's behavior.

"Did you guys know that cats can sense the supernatural? Like evil spirits and stuff? Also, wookit her wittle paws!" She baby talked as she pet the kitten under the chin

"She's so skinny…I think she's a stray." Sarah felt her ribcage. She was obviously not as wild as other cats though.

MJ sighed, "Okay, as much as a black cat is SUPER on-brand for me, my dad is _crazy_ allergic."

"Ugh, our terrier hates cats… maybe the vet's office down the block can find a home for her?" Luke suggested.

"No way! Sarah is going to take this kitty home and also let me come over and play with said kitty every day. Possibly twice a day." She looked over at Sarah, "Right, Sarah?"

Sarah looked down at the kitten in her arms, thinking. The kitten looked back up at Sarah with her big yellow eyes.

_I can't though, can I? I mean...Karen will freak when she eventually gets home…but Toby might be able to convince her though. She'd do anything for Toby. But I'm already building a freaking zoo in dad's shed with Merlin and Daphnee, so I really shouldn't. But still… three is a magic number, right? And although I'm more of a "dog-person"; Merlin isn't MINE mine. So he'll be gone when Mark eventually comes home...and Daphnee is a wild animal and comes and goes as she pleases so it's not like she's MINE mine either...and there's plenty of mice and bugs in the shed to keep her occupied..._

But what MJ had said about evil spirits was what really made her decide "yay" or "nay". _Could she really warn me when supernatural forces like Jareth are nearby?_

"Looks like I have a cat!" Sarah shrugged and grinned at Luke and MJ. "For now…but if Karen drops the guillotine, I will just have to fatten her up and find her a new home."

She held the kitten up to her face, and she headbutted Sarah softly in the chin.

Luke melted, "Alright, that's pretty darn adorable. What are you going to name her?"

Sarah looked at MJ for help. She started spouting off names, "Cattywampus! Grimalkin! Ooooh, what about Jiji?"

Jiji? Huh. "What about…JuJu?" Sarah asked, thinking.

Luke scrunched his nose, "What? Is she French or something?"

"No! Like, 'good juju'. Basically, because I'm saving her from the dumpster, I get good karma and luck." She scratched the top of her head. "I need all the good juju I can possibly get."

"I like it!" MJ nods.

"C'mon, Juju, we're gonna go visit our friend Dan," Sarah said, starting to walk toward the opening of the alley.

"Uh, I don't think you can bring a cat into the hospital," Luke said doubtfully.

Unzipping her backpack, Sarah gently placed Juju on top of her textbooks, then closed the zipper partway.

"Cat? What cat?" She grinned at Luke.

"I don't see any cat. Are you feeling okay, Luke?" MJ put her hand on Luke's forehead and he swatted it away, laughing.

"Fine. But when security comes to throw us out, I don't know ANY of you people."

Giggling, Sarah turned and headed with Sean and MJ across the street toward Westchester General Medical.


	17. Chapter 17: Cellphone Therapy

Wow! I didnt expect that response to the last chapter! Thanks for all the reviews! And, At last, we finally find out why Dan went into the woods in this chapter. This has been a crazy week, right? S if thr Coronavirus killing old folks wasnt bad enough, this morning I was woken up by an earthquake that happened in Utah! Super scary. I ran outside thinking the house was going to fall down and it was the end of times, lol.

Anyways, hopefully this will answer some questions we've all had since Chapter 1. Thank you all for being so patient!

* * *

.*.

Chapter 17: Cellphone Therapy

*.*

MJ led them to a small room at the back of the hospital. It was a pretty room with pale blue walls and beige colored curtains that matched the tasteful decor. There were flowers everywhere from students and family, including flowers that Sarah and the gang had sent while vistors weren't allowed. The group was already there, clustered around the bed where Dan lay still and quiet.

Sarah felt the breath rush out of her. She felt like she'd entered a funeral home rather than a hospital room, "Oh, Dan…"

Dan was wearing a light blue hospital gown, same blue as the walls, and his light brown hair was combed neatly around his face. It was so similar and so different to the way they had found him lying in the woods. His eyes were closed, but he didn't look peaceful.

Sarah came closer and slowly sat in an empty chair next to Emily and Stacey. Beside her, the heart monitor showed the green line silently beating a cardiac rhythm. Everyone was silent for a moment, just staring at him.

"Jeez…. He looks so…" MJ looked down at Dan sadly, "it's like something drained the life out of him."

Sarah's looked around at the group. Everyone's faces reflected hers; somber and downcast. She tried to swallow the lump caught in her throat, "Can he… I mean, does he know we're here?"

"Dunno. Nurse was here a minute ago. He said Dan's in a 'vegetative state'." Taylor murmured, hands in his jeans with a huge frown.

Luke blew out a breath, "Is it… do they know what caused it?"

"They have no idea. He just… he just won't wake up." Emily said softly, looking ready to cry.

Stacey sniffled, hugging herself and looking up at the ceiling to try and hold the tears back…"Guys…" she said, "what if he _never_ wakes up?"

Luke moved to stand by Stacey, putting an arm around her shoulders and Emily reached over and squeezed Stacey's hand.

Sarah looked down at the white hospital floor. She knew how Stacey felt about Dan. _Guess it was a good thing nothing ever happened between us, otherwise Stacey would've hated me._

"Th-the nurse also said we should talk to him, though. He said that Dan might be able to hear us!" Emily said hopefully, looking over at Sarah.

Taylor shook his head, "It's probably crap. They always say that to make you feel better." He huffed and folded his arms over his jean jacket.

MJ looked over at him, "Does it work?"

He was surprised by the question and thought for a moment before his expression grew vulnerable, "I dunno…yeah. Kinda." He turned away from the group to look out the window, hiding his face.

Sarah turned back to the bed and reached out, squeezing Dan's hand in her own. For a moment, she thought she felt a slight pressure as Dan squeezed back. A barely-audible whisper escaped his lips, "_Sarah_…"

Sarah gasped in astonishment and turned happily back at the group, exuberant, "He _does _know we're here!"

Everyone brightened up and moved toward to the bed, pressing close.

Sarah turned back to Dan, "Dan, if..if you can hear me…we're going to make this right." Sarah said, squeezing his hand again. "I promise you. We'll make the Goblin King pay for what he did to you, and we'll keep him from hurting anyone else." Sarah's voice started to get choked up, and she fought against the tears. Why was Jareth doing all of this? "We'll find a way to bring you back, Dan. And this time, we're all going to be there for each other."

Sarah thought she might have imagined the tiniest hint of a smile curved the corner of Dan's lips, and he seemed to relax ever so slightly.

"Uh…Sarah? Your backpack is angry." Sean said, worriedly.

Looking down, Sarah saw a tiny black paw sticking out of the top of her bag, swiping blindly at Sean's leg.

"Sorry! We had to sneak her past the front desk. Everyone…meet Juju! She's the newest member of our 'Anti-Goblin' team!", Sarah unzipped her bag, and Juju immediately sprang out, clawing her way up the side of Dan's bed!

"Hissssssssss!" she hissed at everyone around her. _Uh-oh!_ Sarah forgot that she wasn't exactly tame yet. And she obviously didn't like being stuffed inside a backpack, either.

"Whoa! Is that your cat, Sarah? It seems kinda…feral." Taylor backed away.

MJ cooed, "Naw, Juju talks tough, but inside she's just a wittle wuv muffin!"

"Kinda like you?" Sean looked over at MJ and smirked.

MJ stopped and glared over at Sean, "HISSSSSSSSSS!" She hissed at him. MJ apparently didn't like being called 'wittle wuv muffin'.

Juju scampered up to the head of the bed. She raised her paw, batting softly at Dan's earlobe. Sarah worried for a second that she might hurt him and stood up to put her back in the backpack. But when Dan didn't respond; Juju sniffed his cheek then nestled against the side of his neck, curling into a tiny black ball and began to purr.

"Awwwwww!" Everyone's response was automatic.

"Has anyone else been here to see him?" Sarah asked, not being able to take her eyes off of the cute couple.

"We ran into Dan's mom on the way in, but she was on the phone with someone named Dr. Chambal," Taylor informed her and Luke.

Luke piped up, "Another doctor? Are they bringing in some kind of specialist or something?"

"Actually, based on what they were saying, I think she may have been Dan's therapist," Emily said, stepping forward and giving the kitten a soft scratch.

_Dan had a therapist?!_ "Really? Do you think she knows something about all of this?" Sarah asked. It would be good if an adult was on their side.

"Who knows? He never told me about any of this. He wasn't one for talking about feelings." Stacey shook her head.

_Yeah, I know how you feel…_ Sarah thought.

"Dan, buddy… I wish you could tell us what happened." Sean said to Dan, gently putting a hand on his hospital-gowned shoulder.

"Nnnnn…" a soft sound escaped Dan's lips, so soft it was almost inaudible.

Dan's head turned, just a few degrees to the right. Sarah frowned, then followed the motion…to see his clothes folded neatly on the bedside table, surrounded by flowers.

"Wait a second…" she said as she slowly got up and walked over. She patted around Dan's jacket and clothes, then felt in the pocket of his jeans. _Bingo!_ She pulled out his cell phone. "He didn't tell _us_ what was going on…"

Sean caught on, "…But maybe he told someone else!"

"He did send all of us those weird texts the night he disappeared… His other texts could tell us more." Emily said as Sarah opened the phone.

Suddenly Stacey jumped up and put a hand out to stop her, looking at Dan, "Dan... Do you really want us to go through your phone?" she asked him.

After several seconds, Dan's head moved again. The ghost of a nod. Sarah opened Dan's texts without further inturruption and Stacey scooted her chair over next to Sarah's.

"Okay, so when did all this stuff start?" Sarah thought out loud. She turned to Stacey, "Hey, you once said that Dan was having breakdowns at football games, right? When was that?"

"Sometime around last September, I think." She nodded.

Stacey and the rest of the gang read over Sarah's shoulder as she scrolled backwards through Dan's life, rewinding across days… weeks… months…

* * *

Saturday, September 17 / 11:09 am

_Stacey: _**Hey dan, its Stacey…r u doing alright?**

_ Dan: _** yeah, what do you mean?**

_Stacey: _**i saw you after the game last night…**

_ Dan: _**?**

_Stacey: _**crying? under the bleachers?**

_Dan: _**Lol what? must've been somebody else**

_Stacey: _**im pretty sure it was you**

_Dan:_** well****, im pretty sure it wasn't lol**

_Stacey: _**Then ****they looked a lot like you. and had **

**your same jersey #. and afterwards im **

**pretty sure they stole ur car**

_Dan: _** I'm fine.**

_Stacey: _**just… i hope u know u can talk to me**

**about anything**

* * *

Dan hadn't responded after that.

"I tried." Stacey said sadly.

Sarah looked over at her just as Stacey burst into tears. Sarah ignored the phone a moment to turn and give her a real big hug. Sean and Emily patted Stacey on the back or squeezed her shoulders. MJ and Taylor look on sadly since they were out of their element with physically comforting someone.

"I know." Sarah said, "I did too. He just didn't want to admit he had a problem." Sarah felt herself start to tear up, and she quickly turned back to scroll to the next message, which happened to be from his mother…

* * *

Sunday, September 18 / 1:42 pm

_Mom: _**Everything ok, kiddo?**

_ Dan: _** yeah why**

_Mom: _**My 'mom senses' are tingling. Also I **

**found Picard meowing outside your **

**door this morning, and you only kick **

**him out when you're upset.**

_Dan: _** I'm ok… just school stress and stuff. I **

** didnt sleep super great last night.**

_Mom: _**Are you having the nightmares again?**

_ Dan: _** no, and no offense, but can we please **

** not do "the talk" again**

_Mom: _**The Talk?**

_Dan: _** the one where I tell you a bunch of stuff **

** that makes you look at me like a sick **

** puppy and u try to convince me to see a **

** shrink and I say no and we argue**

_Mom: _**Ouch.**

_ Dan: _** sorry… im just tired**

_Mom: _**Look, I know you don't want to talk to a **

**Therapist ****(because you're stubborn and you are **

**your father's son) ****But I worry about you. And I want you**

**to be happy.**

_ Dan: _** I know**

_Mom: _**What do you think about something **

**like ****this?**

**"New Phone App Places Therapy at Your **

**Fingertips…" Read the whole story at**

**/2016/09/15/227z941/…**

_ Dan: _** what is this? texting with a therapist?**

** seems kinda cheesy… **

_Mom: _**Just think about it.**

* * *

"See?!" Sarah said to Stacey, "he wouldn't even tell his own _mother_ what was going on." She glared over at Dan's still form, feeling peeved, "Nice going Dan. How'd that work out for ya?"

Everyone gawked at Sarah. She was always the upbeat person in the group. The proactive, teamwork, optimistic 'adventure is out there!', or 'let's find magic!' girl. She wasn't normally like this.

"S-SARAH! You...you shouldn't talk like that!" Emily gaped at Sarah, "He's sick! You don't need to make him feel worse!"

"Yeah, maybe he just didn't want his mom to think that he was crazy and put him in a mental home. I mean, c'mon! Have you told YOUR parents?" Taylor asked, folding his arms and giving her a hard look.

Sarah glanced back over at Dan, and sure enough, even though he looked as unconscious as ever… his mouth did seem just a tad droopier. Sarah sighed, and put her hand on her face, trying to relieve her frustration._ If it wasn't for Dan, we wouldn't be in this mess…but if it wasn't for me… there never would have been 'a mess' to get into._

"You're right. I'm sorry guys." Sarah said sadly, "No, I wouldn't tell Karen. I'm just...I'm just...really stressed right now and frustrated. We could have avoided all of this if he had come to _**any** one_ of us." Sarah turned away from the group and back to the phone before she said anything else she might regret.

_Keep it together Sarah, _she reprimanded herself

* * *

Thursday, September 29 / 2:19 am

_Mandy: _**Hi there :) Do you prefer Daniel, or Dan?**

_ Dan: _** dan is fine**

_Mandy: _**Well Dan, my name is Dr. Amanda **

**Chambal and I'll be your Lighthouse **

**counselor. But you can call me ****Mandy :)**

_ Dan: _** sup**

_Mandy: _**How are you feeling?**

_Dan: _**what like now or in general?**

_Mandy: _**Let's start with now.**

_ Dan: _** idk…hungry?**

_Mandy: _**Same. I'm eating nachos! **

_ Dan: _**aw man, Now I want nachos**

_Mandy: _**Yes, so does my German Shepherd.**

**He's making googly eyes at me.**

_ Dan: _** Lol**

_Mandy: _**So how have you been feeling lately?**

_Dan: _** idk… hard to describe. kind of alone i guess? **

_Mandy: _**Alone like sad?**

_ Dan: _** no. more like… scared**

* * *

"What did Dan have to be afraid of? This was long before all the creepy stuff started happening… right?" Sarah asked the group, worried. Had the Goblin King been stalking Dan before any of them? Why? What for?

"Hm… Skip ahead to November, just after Thanksgiving break, " Stacey suggested, "Dan was out of school for a couple days in a row and… I don't know. Something about it felt weird to me."

Sarah nodded, remembering her conversation with him. She remembered that he had gone up to his uncle's cabin in the woods with his family, "Okay, let's see…"

* * *

Wednesday, November 30 / 9:14 am

_Mom: _**Dan, I'm trying to be respectful and give **

**you your space but it's been three days, son!**

**I'm getting worried. And the school is **

**calling. And you have half our cups and bowls**

**in there! **

**Please open the door.**

_ Dan: _** tomorrow**

* * *

Wednesday, November 30 / 3:14 pm

_Mandy: _**Is this the first time you've had an **

**episode like this?**

_ Dan: _** never this long **

**idk what's wrong with me. **

**im just lying ****here shaking**

_Mandy: _**Did something happen that might have**

**set this off?**

_ Dan: _** sort of. we went to my uncle's cabin for **

** thxgiving and i started having nightmares**

** worse than ever before**

_Mandy: _**Were they about what happened? The **

**incident when you were a kid?**

_ Dan: _** yeah**

_Mandy: _**Are you ready to talk about that yet?**

_ Dan: _** no**

_Mandy: _**That's fine, no rush. You don't have to **

**answer this but I have one other **

**question. Would you describe this **

**incident as negative? Or violent?**

_ Dan: _** yes… understatement of the century **

_Mandy: _**And would you say, before this episode, **

**that it's been a while since you last **

**thought about it?**

_ Dan: _** sort of… well, no. not really. i think **

** about it a lot. but I try not to.**

** it got better for a few years… I just **

** pretended it happened to someone else**

_Mandy: _**But visiting your uncle's cabin brought it **

**back for you? And then it all came **

**rushing back to you? Sound about ****right?**

_ Dan: _** yes**

_Mandy: _**Okay. Well I have good news and bad**

**news. Which do you want first?**

_ Dan: _** good please**

_Mandy: _**The good news is, I think you're making **

**progress. And I think we might have an**

**idea of what we're dealing with now.**

**The bad news is, from everything you've**

**told me over the last couple weeks, it**

**sounds like you might be dealing with **

**symptoms of dissociation that manifest **

**with some forms of PTSD.**

_ Dan: _** what ****does that mean? **

_Mandy: _**It means this may get worse before it **

**gets better. ****But I do believe it will get better. **

**I hope ****you do too.**

* * *

"Looks like the next big batch is around February…" Sarah murmured as she continued scrolling.

"Oh, no. Winter formal…" Stacey shook her head.

"What happened?" Sarah asked.

"After the dance, there was a big party at one of the football player's house. I think it was Seth's? Anyways, I found Dan freaking out in the bathroom. Looking back on it, he seemed afraid of something he saw in the mirror? But when I left for a minute he just took off…"

* * *

Friday, February 10 / 2:18 am

_Stacey: _**Dan? i left to get towels and u disappeared, where r u**

_Dan: _** I'm fine, I walked home**

_Stacey: _**ur clearly NOT fine**

**wtf is going on with u?! talk to me!**

_Dan: _** just leave me alone**

_Stacey: _**okay**

* * *

Friday, February 10 / 9:14am

_Mom: _**You came home super late last night. **

**Everything okay, kiddo?**

_Dan:_ **ya im fine**

_Mom: _**Are you sure? Do you want to talk about**

**it?**

_Dan: _** N****O. for the millionth time: I AM FINE**

* * *

Sarah was pissed again but she hid it from the group, and didn't say anything. Dan should thank his lucky stars that Sarah wasn't his mom. She would have assumed that he was doing drugs and she would have taken his phone away…..and his bedroom door…..until he told her what was wrong. Sarah shook her head, and turned back to the phone.

* * *

Saturday, February 11 / 4:15 pm

_ Dan:_** I did something dumb the other night…**

_Mandy: _**What happened?**

_ Dan:_** i went to a party even though i was **

** feeling bad**

** i had a freakout, and I was really **

** crappy to someone who was trying to **

** help me**

** … two people actually**

_Mandy: _**Have you had any more episodes **

**recently?**

_ Dan: _** Sort of… ive been having nightmares all**

** week**

** Also, I had an episode at the party and **

**when I was coming home,**** I went by the **

**woods… and I ****thought I saw something.**

** I guess it was probably just a **

** hallucination but it really freaked me**

** out. Pretty sure I ran most of the way home**

_Mandy: _**These woods… are they near where **

**Your original incident took place?**

_ Dan:_** Yeah**

_Mandy: _**Okay, let me ask you this..**

**How do you feel when you see a forest? **

**Or when you think about being inside **

**one?**

_ Dan: _** Bad**

_Mandy: _**Bad how?**

_ Dan: _** Like I cant breathe**

_Mandy: _**Do you think the woods might be a **

**trigger for you? You see a bunch of **

**dark trees and you start thinking about**

**what happened?**

Dan:** yeah! Like at my uncle's cabin! And**

**what makes me so mad is that I used to **

**love the woods. My friends and I went into **

**them all the time. But now...**

_Mandy: _**If that's the case, then I think I have an **

**idea for how we might start to deal with**

**this. Let me run something by you….**

* * *

"After that… I think my last text with Dan was in June" Stacey said helpfully. The girls sifted through texts until they found it.

* * *

Monday, June 5 / 4:15 pm

_Stacey: _**Hi Dan, I was thinking about you today.**

**It's been a few months since we talked **

**and I'm sad with how we left things off.**

**I hope you're doing okay.**

_ Dan: _** Hi Stace. I'm good :)**

** I mean I wasnt before, but I think im **

** getting better. I can't talk now**

** but…soon?**

_Stacey: _**that'd be great!**

_Dan:_** Have a good summer vacation!**

_Stacey: _**u too dan! ^_^**

* * *

Monday, June 5 / 6:15 pm

_ Dan: _** New record!**

_Mandy: _**Whoo!**

_ Dan: _** This time I went right up to the treeline & **

** stood there for 10 minutes**

_Mandy: _**That's great! I'm happy that you're **

**making so much progress.**

_Dan: _** its not enough though. i still have to go**

** inside. **** i have to see the place where it **

** happened. i have to face it.**

_Mandy: _**Remember not to push yourself too**

**hard, okay? If this starts to stress you**

**out too much, there are always other**

**methods we can try.**

**Just take one day at a time.**

* * *

"It's mostly little texts after that, all throughout the summer." Sarah told the group, scrolling through the rest. "One step into the woods… a picnic five feet inside… one hour picking acorns...He was working his way up to it. Working his way up to…" Sarah's suddenly overcome with emotion. "_that night_." she finished.

"What happened next?" Taylor asked, stepping forward, "Skip to that night that he got lost and sent us all those texts…"

* * *

Sunday / 3:15 pm

_Mom: _**You have everything you need?**

_ Dan: _** yep**

_Mom: _**Toothbrush? Underwear? Blanket?**

_ Dan: _** yep yep yep **

_Mom: _**Okay. Have fun, stay safe! Normally I**

**wouldn't let you spend the night at a friend's**

**before the first day of school...but **

**since it's your Senior year I guess I can**

**be cool this one time ;) **

**You want me ****to come and pick you up from school**

**tomorrow?**

_ Dan: _** you don't have to do that. i'll walk.**

_Mom: _**K. Call if you change your mind?**

_ Dan: _** lol, you're acting like this is some huge **

** deal. i've crashed at Tony's house like a **

** million times**

_Mom: _**Not for years! I'm just so happy to see **

**that you're doing better.**

**I love you, honey.**

_ Dan: _** thanks mom. love u too. see u tomorrow**

* * *

5:15 pm

_ Dan: _** Hi Dr. Chambal. I'm standing on the **

** edge of the woods for what I hope is **

** going to be the last time. Just wanted **

** to say thank you for all your help.**

** I'm going in there tonight. And this time, **

** I'm going all the way to where it **

** happened. To end this once and for all.**

** I'm going to walk into that house, down**

** those stairs, and tell the Goblin King he's **

** not real. And he never was. And he that**

** doesn't scare me anymore.**

10:15 pm

_Mandy: _**Hi Dan. Sorry, today is my day**

** off but I**** just ****saw your messages.**

**I'm glad I've been helpful to you, but I **

**hope you understand that trauma isn't **

**something you can just "fix" with one **

**grand gesture.**

**Dealing with what happened is going to **

**take a lifetime of work that may not **

**ever stop. But it will get easier.**

**There are also limits to what a mental **

**health professional can do via text, and**

**I do still strongly encourage you to **

**consider traditional therapy as a long**

**term treatment option.**

**Also, I hope that if you're going into the **

**woods, you're staying safe and taking a **

**buddy.**

**You have a lot of people who care about **

**you, and there are other dangerous **

**things out there besides bad memories.**

**Take care, talk soon.**

10:47 pm

_Mandy: _**Wait, I just re-read your last text**

**...what house are you talking about?**

**Who's the Goblin King?**

**Dan? Who's the Goblin King?**

**Are you there?**

**Dan?**

* * *

Sarah put down Dan's phone, her hands shaking a little. She already knew what came next.

"Oh, Dan…"

...

* * *

Well! Now we know why Dan went into the woods! Kinda creepy, huh? I imagine what it would have been like for Dan to hike through the woods to the ruins, go inside, and then go down that hole! Only to come face to face with the Goblin King! XD I don't think I could write a chapter that would do it justice. Freaky...

Welp! Follow, Favorite, and please write a review if you enjoyed it!


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